Sa’adatu Adamu, a resident of Tudun-Salmanu community in Bauchi State would spend over N10,000 transporting herself to the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Bauchi town, but her efforts to get a Permanent Voter’s Card proved abortive.
The 30-year-old housewife told WikkiTimes she spent N350 daily to board a motorcycle to the commission’s office.
She registered in May 2022. But each time she went to the INEC office, officials handling the distribution of the cards repeatedly told her that the card was not ready.
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Her hope of getting the PVC was soon dashed as the commission closed the distribution of the cards. Hitherto, INEC decentralised PVC collection to the ward level but when Sa’adatu went to her ward, Bakari Dukku Primary School, she was still not able to get her card.
“How can I vote without having a PVC?” she asked frustratedly. “I lost hope after all my attempts to collect my cards proved unsuccessful.”
Sa’adatu explained further: “I am not worried about what I spent in the course of getting my PVC. I took it upon myself to do all that is within my powers as a citizen of this country. It is a civil obligation that I must meet up with. I went to INEC head office in Bauchi, yet the story remains the same”
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Head of Voter Education and Publicity for INEC in Bauchi, Ahmed Waziri, argued that the commission achieved 90 per cent success in PVC distribution.
“Bauchi Local Government Area (LGA) has the highest number of 19,300 uncollected PVCs, while Shira LGA has the least with only 42 uncollected PVCs,” he said. “We have just about 44,720 out of the 2.4 million PVCs.”
