Nigerian popular Journo, David Hundeyin has raised the alarm about Permanent Voters card (PVC) and described it as an instrument of voter disenfranchisement specifically targeted at Southern Nigeria.
Hundeyin was reacting yesterday on Twitter at the ongoing PVC revolution and has cast doubts on the legitimacy of a process in the hands of the current leadership from Northern Nigeria.
“My unpopular opinion/hot take on elections in Nigeria is the the PVC is an instrument of voter disenfranchisement specifically targeted at Southern Nigeria. It shouldn’t exist. The only reason it exists is to make voting as difficult as possible for southern Nigeria.”
It has been over 10 hours and INEC Nigeria@inecnigeria is yet to respond.
He noted that “Said PVC can easily be printed and handed over on the spot, but instead you have to wait for the famously efficient Nigerian govt to hand it over to you whenever it feels like. You see 92% PVC collection in Bauchi, but 65% collection in Rivers and no explanation is volunteered.”
Replying to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) @netgeria, Hundeyin said “It hasn’t solved the problem of multiple voting in the north where they simply vote without PVC anyway. We have two different sets of rules governing a single game on the same pitch, which makes the entire voting process invalid.
According to him, in the US for example, all you need to vote is ID like a drivers licence. Kindly explain why after capturing all the needed information on your drivers licence, passport, NIN, SIM registration and BVN registration, you need to do it ALL OVER AGAIN for something called “PVC.”
Why PVC is Fraud
According to Hundeyin: “On election day, card readers always end up mysteriously malfunctioning across southern Nigeria, stealing people’s franchise from them, while there is suspiciously high card reader functionality and network fidelity in the “Kardashian states.” I’m calling it what it is.”
“It is fraud. It is open voter disenfranchisement and it is systemic vote rigging before a ballot box is ever opened. I don’t care whether it’s a Goodluck Jonathan legacy or not. It’s a dumb idea and an awful system subject to execution by fraudulent and insincere people at INEC.”
“Nigeria needs a new voter management system in 2027. There is too much readily available, cheap and universally reliable technology for 80 million+ voters to be held to ransom by a dumb piece of plastic and a machine that doesn’t work. It is unacceptable.”
However, Rinu Oduala is concerned about the unnecessary delay delays associated with PVC. Rinu Oduala @SavvyRinu Replying to @DavidHundeyin , she said “My issue is with having to wait for the PVC. The world has machines that print out cards in less than 2 minutes. What’s the unnecessary waiting?”
Others Twitter users agree with him.
Replying to @DavidHundeyin @efewonyi said: “When I was in Kaduna & some northern states we had more Machines than human. They even had NIN registration centre at the same spot for those with no NIN. Up North you can do your NIN and PVC registration within 30 mins. I think it’s systematically designed to disenfranchise.”
He added that though “PVC was designed to solve the problem of multiple voting… Once we digitalize the voting system where people vote against their names on the central database should be resolved.”
David Hundeyin said “it hasn’t solved the problem of multiple voting in the north where they simply vote without PVC anyway. We have two different sets of rules governing a single game on the same pitch, which makes the entire voting process invalid.”
Owoade David@daveowoade: Having worked with inec during a presidential election, accrediting voters and the whole shenanigans, I can boldly say, we are not ready for credible elections in this country. I once accredited a string of kids who couldn’t be older than 13yrs old. Really young kids with PVCs. “They all came together & I saw the man who brought them stand aloof, watching. They all had super-neat PVCs & the card reader said they were all older than 18. Anyways, if anything, I learnt votes are still needed to rig elections and votes really do count, hence the gimmicks.”
