Fashola Urges Lagosians To Go Collect Their Voter's Card

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has urged all residents of the State who have registered to vote in next week’s general elections but have not collected their Permanent Voters Card, PVC, to proceed to their polling units from today, February 4, 2015  for their PVCs.

Fashola, who made the statement on Wednesday while speaking to State House Correspondents at Lagos House, Ikeja on what transpired at his meeting with the Independent National Electoral Commissioner in Lagos, Mr Akin Orebiyi, who paid him a courtesy visit,added that he won’t collect his own PVC until majority of Lagosians collect theirs.

The incumbent Governor stated that he has been briefed about the readiness of INEC to commence the distribution exercise from Wednesday 8.30a.m to 5.30p.m in the evening daily and lasting till Sunday.

Fashola also informed the newsmen that INEC has moved the collection of the PVCs from the former Wards Collation Offices of INEC closer to the people at the primary places where they usually vote and which they are familiar with and irrespective of where they registered.

He also advised all those who have registered freshly to also proceed to the Polling Units where INEC has made arrangements to distribute the PVC to them, stressing that in case there are difficulties the state Government would continue to work with INEC towards providing solutions.

“I would keep an eye to see this new phase of the exercise. It allows the people the opportunity to vote and as I said, this exercise would start tomorrow. There is five days to do this, so that as many people as possible and hopefully everybody who is registered can get theirs at their poling units,” he stated.
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The Governor also informed that he has been updated by the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner that the current registration exercise in Lagos has produced 5,905,000 people, adding that they are still doing some collation and that the final figure would be released when all is finally finished.

On what Lagosians should expect from the latest exercise, the Governor said It is for them to make out time and go out and make the sacrifice, adding that he would continue to insist that INEC must get it right.

“I know people have tried. I have heard people say they have been to the places, the Ward Offices eight times and some four times and for me if you have made that kind of efforts, the real success must come in not giving up and I don’t give up and that is why I continue to address the issue”.

“I have made State broadcasts, I have granted interviews, I won’t give up on our people they must get a chance to participate so the people themselves must be willing to persist and to persevere so that they will get an opportunity to have a say in how their affairs are ordered by being able to vote at the next elections”, he explained.

When reminded by a journalist that he was yet to collect his PVC, the Governor maintained that he won’t give up and that INEC has acknowledged that it has received quite a number of more voters cards and his is presumably amongst them.

Affirming that he would not go forward to collect the PVC until the majority of Lagosians collect theirs, he declared: “A captain does not leave a ship when there is crisis and I must make sure all the passengers are safely evacuated so I want Lagosians to get theirs first. As a Governor, I enjoy certain privileges but I can’t go ahead of them so I want them to take the fullest benefit of this exercise before I collect mine”.

On the possibility of declaring work free days to enable residents go out to collect their PVC, the Governor said the State Governor has not precluded any possibility but would be watching as the developments unfold in terms of how the people turn out to collect the cards.

Meanwhile, the Governor was joined by the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Ibirogba, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Raji and the Special Adviser on Media, Mr Hakeem Bello during the interview.

It would be recalled that INEC had revealed that the careless attitude of some of its staff was the reason why the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Moham­med Sa’ad Abubakar, and Governor Fashola, (SAN), were not able to collect their permanent voters cards.

According to the Daily Times, the deputy director in charge of voters education and publicity, Nick Dazang, revealed this on Monday, February 2, at a one-day workshop for newsmen in Kaduna.

According toDazang, “the initial lost of data led to loss of finger prints and that was why the Sul­tan of Sokoto, Governor Fashola of Lagos and others could not get their PVCs. Attitude of some INEC staff led to loss of the data”.

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