Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Ogun State Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate, Rotimi Paseda, has called on the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakub, to order the production and release of his Permanent Voter Card (PVC) without further delay.
Paseda made the call on Wednesday in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, while briefing journalists at the SDP Secretariat.
He expressed frustration over non-issuance of his Permanent Voter Card by the INEC, three days to the commencement of the general elections.
Paseda explained that he had applied for a replacement of his damaged PVC since August last year, but the electoral body has failed to reproduce the card.
According to him, members of his immediate family and party members numbering about fifteen, who applied for PVCs together with him had since got their PVCs, wondering why he was an exception.
The governorship candidate, however, expressed fear that INEC might end up disenfranchising him from carrying out his civic responsibility.
“The PVC with Area code number: 27-17-14-003 and VIN: 90F5-B159- 6641- 6087-233 Paseda, Olatunde Rotimi, was used to vote during the year 2015 general elections without any complaints.
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“An Electoral Officer in the local government area attended to my complaint, collected the original PVC after making a photocopy of the same card and advised that I should be checking for a re-print of the card.
“To my surprise, I have been visiting the Odogbolu Area Office of INEC to see how to pick my PVC since then till today.
“Surprisingly I was told by an official in the Electoral Officer’s office that my data did not exist in the Commission’s data base.
“For goodness sake, how could a PVC used by myself, a governorship candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) during 2015 general elections and now a governorship candidate of SDP in 2019 general elections suddenly disappeared from the data base of INEC?
“How on earth does the Commission intend to wash itself clean of the allegations that it is involved in selling people’s PVCs?” Paseda stated.