Ogun PDP guber candidate to INEC: PVC, card readers may jeopardise elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was, on Sunday, warned to reconsider its position on the use of Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and Card Reader for the March 28 and April 11 general elections.
If the issue is not handled with care, the elections may be jeopardised.
This is the stand of the Ogun State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Gboyega Isiaka.
Isiaka said due to the mismanagement of the PVC and the bottleneck which the card readers portend, INEC should consider the usage of Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs).
He also called on the electoral body to further extend‎ the deadline for collection of PVCs, which he noted had been inadequate in many local government areas of the Gateway State.
According to the PDP governorship candidate, ‎INEC should be wary of taking decisions that could lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters.
He said despite his complaints about inadequate voter cards, nothing appreciable has been done by INEC to substantially ameliorate the situation.
Isiaka, however, observed that anyone who is disenfranchised can go to court to stop the election or get an order which can jeopardise the whole process.
He said: “I have been inundated with several calls and complaints from a lot of our people in various local governments across the state, especially in Yewa North, Ijebu East, Imeko-Afon, Ipokia, Abeokuta North and Obafemi-Owode‎ who are yet to receive their PVCs with just a week to the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“I also understand that it is not that INEC has not been receiving these complaints and also that the commission is willing to make the cards available to as many beneficiaries as possible, but it is clearly lacking in capacity to do so.
“Having rolled out the statistics last week and seeing that not much has been done as at now, I wonder what magic will be done in the next five days to give the PVCs to the huge numbers of eligible voters out there that don’t have it yet.
“Also very related to this is the thorny issue of smart card readers, which for me is a potential disaster for the smooth running of the election. While INEC tested the card readers last week, we all know that it was not very successful as the issue of the time it will take to read the card and accredit voters will be way too long; and closely related to it is the issue of power, network issues and machine malfunctions.
“Consequently, we cannot afford to set ourselves up for failure based on the mismanagement of the PVC and the bottleneck which the card reader portends. Therefore, I call on INEC to strongly consider the usage of the Temporary Voter Cards; otherwise, anyone who is disenfranchised can go to court to stop the election or get an order which can jeopardise the whole process.
“Secondly, INEC must also strongly consider jettisoning the idea of using the contentious card reader in order to forestall chaos.
“Finally, while I implore INEC to immediately consider the above conclusions, it must also seriously look into the inadequate cards in affected local governments in Ogun State, notwithstanding the expiration of collection deadline. It can be extended in Ogun State just as it has been done in some states. These are the irreducible minimum I demand of INEC for a credible election in Ogun State.‎”