Criticisms, lamentations and anger have continued to trail the distribution of the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC) by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) which commenced in Kaduna on Monday.

Several residents, who faulted the entire process, complained of late arrival of materials and absence of adhoc officials in almost all the distribution centres.

Residents said they had a herculean task in tracing their names on the register displaced on the wall.

Many did not see their names even though the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Haliru Tambuwal, told journalists before the exercise commenced that about 3 million cards had been printed and were ready for collection.

While the exercise could not start smoothly on its first day due to non availability of INEC officials and materials, our correspondent who monitored the distribution reported that D 2 of the exercise also witnessed late availability of materials at most of the distribution centres in the state capital and other surrounding local government areas.

In most areas visited, like Jaba, Kachia, Kubau, Zaria, Sanga, Soba and Makarfi local government areas, residents who had collected their PVCs commended INEC for a job well done, while those who were yet to receive theirs in Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Igabi, and Chikun local government areas faulted the process.

There were also complaints of missing names on the register as well as non availability of the permanent voter’s cards of those whose names appeared on the voters register.

The residents who trooped out for the exercise were disappointed by the absence of INEC officials at the polling units and designated collation centres as at 12 O’clock in the afternoon.

At the Kabala polling unit, which is the unit of Nigeria’s Vice President, Namadi Sambo, there was no sign of any distribution of voters cards going on. Those who trooped out for the exercise waited in vain and …read more