I don’t have PVC, Sultan cries out

The Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Sa’ad Abubakar III, has expressed fears that unless something was done urgently, millions of Nigerians, including himself, would be disenfranchised as they were not able to collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards, PVCs.

Abubakar spoke in Sokoto when he received President Goodluck Jonathna, who was in the state for a political rally in his palace.

He asked Jonathan to ensure that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, provides all

eligible voters with their cards before the elections as well as ensure that government takes steps to respect the people’s wishes by delivering credible, free and fair elections.

He said: “Let’s respect people’s wishes; let’s not try to disenfranchise anybody. We have had issues of the PVCs and I want to tell you that even myself, I don’t have a PVC, so it means I will not vote on February 14.

“So, we have to look for a way out. It is for your government to now look for what to do; how to ensure that all the cards get to the voters before the voting day or in the alternative, find a way out because in any problem there is a solution and we believe you will find solutions as regard this very serious hitch facing us because millions of Nigerians seem to be heading towards disenfranchisement and they won’t be able to vote but I have heard comments from the INEC Chairman. We are still waiting for our cards to come.”

The Sultan said the difficulties in obtaining the PVC was one of the challenges bothering him and other leaders as it appeared millions of Nigerians would be disenfranchised during this year’s general elections.

The Muslim leader condemned the religious colouration being given to this year’s campaigns and called on politicians to rather focus on issues.

He noted that because of the country’s diversity, it was not “possible” for elections in Nigeria to be all about religion.

Sultan said: “They will come to seek the votes of the common man … but they will not see you again for four years but we have the privilege of seeing you everyday and maybe every time and we always express to you the  problems of our people.”