The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate and prosecute its officials involved in collecting money from citizens before issuing them their Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC).
The Executive Director of CHRICED, Comrade Dr Ibrahim Zikirullahi, made this call in Abuja while briefing journalists on the state of the nation.
While commending INEC for the recent extension to the timeframe for the collection of PVCs, he pointed out that there are some disturbing videos on social media where Nigerians were asked to pay some amount of money before collecting their PVCs.
He described this act as petty corruption and asked INEC to intervene so that some Nigerians would not be disenfranchised during the general election.
“CHRICED lauds the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its recent extension to the timeframe for the collection of PVCs.
“However, there has been very disturbing video evidence of cases wherein Nigerians wanting to collect their PVCs were asked to part with specific sums of money to be able to get their PVCs.
“CHRICED unequivocally condemns these manifestations of petty corruption in the PVC collection process as documented in Enugu and Nasarawa States.
“While these may be isolated cases of acts of corruption by a few unscrupulous officials, it is important for the Commission to speedily cause an investigation of these infractions and ensure law enforcement bring the perpetrators to justice”, he stated.
Zikirullahi also called on INEC to engage in more confidence building with respect to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device, which came under the spotlight at the recent Governorship Election Petition Tribunal judgement for the Osun State gubernatorial election conducted in 2022.
He said although the case is likely to go through the judicial system all the way to the Supreme Court, but the Tribunal’s verdict on overvoting raises a number of fundamental questions about how the INEC Presiding and Collation Officers oversaw the process.
“Some critical questions must be addressed: was there collusion by INEC officials in the polling units, which recorded overvoting as indicated by the Tribunal? If that is the case, what steps will the Commission take to avoid a repeat, especially with the 2023 general elections approaching?
“INEC must reflect on and take critical steps to address these issues in order to build trust and ensure free, fair, and credible general elections in 2023”, he added.
Speaking on the Naira redesigned and currency swap policy, Zikirullahi said disturbing pictures of Nigerians in a life-and-death struggle to obtain the new Naira notes from banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) have become commonplace across the country.
He noted that while ordinary people do not have access to the new banknotes, provocative videos of partygoers spraying bundles of the new notes have surfaced on social media.
His words: “Until now, the CBN and relevant law enforcement agencies have deemed it unnecessary to investigate how such large amounts of the new currency shown in those social media videos ended up in the hands of those individuals who were using them to show off, while most citizens endured long queues just to get some cash.
“CHRICED finds it untenable that while the CBN keeps insisting that it has supplied the redesigned currency to banks, the new notes have hardly ever been available in banks ATMs, resulting in serious currency scarcity.
“The situation has deteriorated to the point where unscrupulous POS operators now charge between 20 and 30 percent of any amount their customers wish to withdraw as a fee for providing cash. Furthermore, as online banking transfers suffer glitches and record failures, the digital channels for financial transactions have become even more difficult.
“The fact, therefore, remains that the CBN’s cash swap policy continues to impoverish many more Nigerians.
“When the benefits and drawbacks of the currency redesign and swap policy are considered, there is no doubt that it is a colossal failure and an unmitigated disaster.
“Criminals, money launderers, and vote buyers have taken advantage of the CBN system’s porous nature to conceal their illicit wealth, while ordinary citizens who require only little amounts of cash for daily survival have no access to the currency. We are in a situation where Naira is now used to buy Naira.
“In addition, the CBN’s unpopular policy of redesigning Naira notes is already driving honest and hardworking farmers, traders, and artisans in rural areas whose funds are all in cash into bankruptcy.”
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