The Permanent Voter Cards distribution in the remaining nine local government areas of Lagos State got underway on Friday, with eligible voters having different experiences.
At the Alimosho Local Government Area, residents turned up at different polling units to collect their PVCs from officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, with some going home excited and others disappointed.
Kehinde Jimoh, an eligible voter who collected her card at Ward 10, Pleasure/Agbado-Oke-Odo, Polling Unit 027, told the News Agency of Nigeria that she was very happy to receive it.
Jimoh said: “I’m very happy and it was not difficult at all.
“This will give me the privilege of exercising my voting rights.”
Sotunde Adisa, an elderly man in his 70s, also spoke in similar vein, but advised the Independent National Electoral Commission to improve on its performance.
Adisa said this was necessary so that many more people would be able to get their cards.
NAN correspondents who monitored the exercise report that PVCs were being collected in six polling units in the ward, but in many others, those who turned up were told to come back for re-registration.
Morenikeji Lasisi, a civil servant, said that INEC was not living up to expectation.
Lasisi said: “This is the second time we are disappointed.
“They said my card is not available and I should come for fresh registration.”
A NAN correspondent who monitored the distribution in some polling units at Ward E reports that INEC officials only came to paste lists at the centres.
At Unit 048, an INEC official told voters to check for their names on the list and asked those who found their names to come on Saturday for their PVCs.
Some prospective voters in Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area also expressed concern over their inability to collect their PVCs in some polling units.
NAN reports that while many could not find their names on the lists at some centres where distribution started late, the exercise did not take place in some polling units.
Olumide Akinmade, one of those waiting at one of the polling units, said that people left their places of work to come and pick up their cards and were disappointed.
Akinmade said that people had been on queue for hours and had not seen any INEC official that would inform them of the next line of action.
“If it has disapproved this polling unit, people should be told, but no one is telling us anything and we are confused,” Akinmade said.
But Adeola Adekunle, the INEC Electoral Officer for Oshodi/Isolo, attributed the development to logistics and unavailability of PVCs for some of the polling units.
Adekunle said that the commission had communicated the development to parties and community leaders at a sensitisation programme ahead of the exercise.
Some eligible voters, who collected their PVCs in the area, however, expressed their readiness to vote during the 2015 general elections.
Moses Hunsa, one of them, commended INEC for the exercise, saying he did not encounter any major challenge apart from the late arrival of INEC ad-hoc staff.
At Polling Unit 028, Adagun-odo junction, Ire Akari Estate, Chief Jonathan Ogundeyi, a 77-year-old agriculturist, told NAN that he collected his card at11.30am.
“I was number one on the queue and collected it about 30 minutes ago,” Ogundeyi said.
He urged INEC officials to arrive early to enable more people get their cards.
In Somolu Local Government Area, eligible voters were seen collecting their cards at two polling units at Olaolu Primary School, Somolu.
Awe Monsuru, an INEC official, told NAN at Polling Unit 13 that they had issued 70 cards by noon.
NAN reports that in Festac Town, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, many eligible voters were also seen collecting their cards at several centres visited.
NAN also reports that the exercise was also going on in several units visited in Surulere Local Government Area, while in others, eligible voters were asked to come back during the Continuous Voter Registration from December 3.
Reacting to complaints on the exercise, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Lagos State, said that those in polling units where no PVC was distributed would have to undergo re-registration.
Ogunmola said: We have stated, even before we started the first distribution, that there are some people’s data that are lost completely in some polling units.
“So we are doing re-registration in those units when we start on December 3.”
Ogunmola said the PVCs for those affected would be ready before the end of January.
NAN reports that the PVC distribution will end in the nine local government areas onNovember 30.
The local governments are Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Eti-Osa, Oshodi/Isolo, Somolu and Surulere.