'Voters without permanent cards won't vote'

►The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday in Abuja said that voters who did not collect their Permanent Voter Cards by December 2014, “would be disenfranchised in the 2015 general elections.”

►The commission also called on Nigerians not to lose hope in its ability to deliver free, fair and credible elections in 2015.

The Director of Voter Registry in INEC, Mr. Emmanuel Akem; Director (Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and CSOs), Mr. Oluwole Uzzi; and the commission’s Head of Department (FCT Voter Education), Mr. Okezie Nwankwo, made the appeal during a one-day Town Hall meeting on the continuous voter registration and distribution of Permanent Voters Cards.

The event was jointly organised by the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement, Centre for Democracy and Development, McArthur Foundation and Open Society Initiative for West Africa.

Akem said voters that just registered in the FCT would have their PVCs in 30 days, adding that the observations and complaints by prospective voters were being addressed.

He said, “All potential voters must have collected their PVCs before December 2014, those that did not collect theirs will not vote in 2015. We had technical support deployed to the field to deal with the breakdown of machines during registration. This, among other measures, is being taken for the success of the exercise.”

Akem stated that although the CVR had not commenced in the local governments, they would start the exercise as soon as the three phases of the exercise were concluded across the country.

Uzzi said Nigerians should not leave it all alone for INEC as their active participation would make the work of the commission easier and effective in the overall interest of the nation.

Also speaking, the Head of Research, Policy and Advocacy of YIAGA, Mr. Samson Itodo, said the meeting was the third in the series of such engagements and would be a continuous exercise.