By Daniel Tyokua
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the traditional rulers have sought extension of Permanent Voter Card (PVC) registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
This is coming as the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) deadline, July 31 earlier extended by the electoral body ends on Sunday.
Senior Special Assistant on Community Relations to the minister of FCT, Yamawo Tanko made the appeal on Friday, when he visited the palaces of Ona of Abaji Yunusa Baba, and the Se’peyi of Garki Usman Nga-Kupi to assess the level of PVC registration exercise.
Yamawo said the FCT Administration was concerned over the free and fair exercise, and would always evolve measures that will ease the registration.
He explained that the exercise was slow in the territory because of few data capture machines in circulation, which he said the registration should be extended to two weeks .
Yamawo said without voter card, Abuja residents would not select the people of their choice to represent them.
“We are visiting palace to palace to sensitisze them on the issue of voter registration, the registration is in progress likely it will be closed tomorrow. We want the traditional rulers to mobilize their people to come out en mass to register.
“The machines are not enough, even the available ones are slow, if you go to the registration centre people are stranded no machines to capture them. Therefore, we are calling on INEC to extend the registration, is not as if people are not coming out but the machines are not enough, so is difficult to capture the number of voters that come out.
“How can one person will spend four, five to six days to register for PVC? Yet the person is not registered. We are calling on the INEC to extend the registration so that every body that is within the voting age will be registered.
“Allowing people to register will help them elect a person of their choice during elections. Without voter card, no body will elect a good leader” Yamawo said.
Responding, the Se’peyi of Garki Usman Nga-Kupi, urged FCTA administration to liaise with INEC and extend the registration exercise for people to participate.
“July 31 is too close, it should be extended, if the registration closes tomorrow or Sunday that means the result is not achieved. Most of our people live in rural areas and the means of communication is very poor, you can’t reach them immediately”
On issues to be corrected, Nga-Kupi said: “The machines brought to us are not enough, some come from villages everyday but can’t be registered because of the challenges, it takes up to five and six days before they can be registered. Therefore, INEC should extend the PVC’s registration” he said.
