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2023 Elections: Nigerians Protest Over Failure To Get Permanent Voter Cards In Lagos Office

2023 Elections: Nigerians Protest Over Failure To Get Permanent Voter Cards In Lagos Office
January 25, 2023

 

With just 31 days before the 2023 general elections, some Nigerians in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State on Wednesday protested against their failure to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

 

The aggrieved electorates occupied the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Eti-Osa council area of the state, demanding the immediate release of their PVCs to enable them to vote for their favourite candidates in the forthcoming elections.

 

A video posted on Twitter by Vanguard shows the protesters displaying placards with different inscriptions including "INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) please we need our PVC," and "INEC please give us our PVC,” surrounding an INEC official putting on an apron that reads ‘Assistant Presiding Officer’.

 

From the rowdy video footage, the INEC could be heard struggling to say "We have been waiting for the people," to which the protesters angrily asked him "Where?"

 

There have been claims and counterclaims over the distribution and collection of PVCs from different parts of the country.

 

In some parts of the country, INEC complains that people have refused to turn up to collect their PVCs even when it was taken to their polling units. In some other places, people have complained that despite leaving their work and businesses for several days to collect their PVCs, INEC officials were either not available or failed to attend to them for unconfirmed reasons.