The Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has decried the challenges faced by supporters of the Party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi, also known as Obidients, on collecting Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs).
Mr. Rhodes-Vivour made the remarks following a meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) on Saturday in the company of the Party’s Executive Committee.
During the meeting, those present discussed all the challenges Obidients are facing while trying to collect PVCs in the state.
Meanwhile, during the meeting, it was disclosed that 500 thousand new PVCs and 400 thousand transferred PVCs came in to Lagos.
Out of this number, over 700 thousand PVCs have been successfully collected out of over 900 thousand.
It was also disclosed that 30 thousand PVC’s arrived this week for those that escalated that their PVC’s were not found.
These PVCs, it was learnt, have been sent to their respective local governments.
Below are the key takeaways of the meeting:
- Fresh registration versus Transfer
A major issue was that people with existing voters cards registered outside Lagos, applied for fresh cards in Lagos as opposed to doing a transfer. These cards were not printed.
- Eti-Osa LG has the largest number of people that have picked up their PVCs.
- A mock session of accreditation using the BVAS system will be carried out across 6 local governments. The dates will be announced and the public will be invited to participate.
- Between 15-20 people are working per LG with cards being sorted per ward to speed up collection.
- The INEC REC is a former DSS official so has a firm understanding of security challenges and systems.
Rhodes-Vivour concluded: “Whilst the structure at the state level appears to be diligent and focused on a free and fair election, we must be vigilant as underlings have been compromised.
“In 2019 the total number of vote cast in Lagos was 1,089,567 for the presidential election.
“If one looks at the number of collected PVCs for new voters alone, then one will understand why 2023 election will shock people in Lagos.” Read more.