Coalition
for Peter Obi (CPO), made up of 17 support groups for the Labour Party’s
presidential candidate, has warned the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) against disenfranchising millions of Nigerians ahead of the
2023 general elections.
CPO
also called on the electoral body to extend the deadline for collection of
Permanent Voter Cards (PVC).
The 17 groups have embarked on massive voter education
campaign, supporting citizens to register and collect their PVC, online and at
various INEC offices.
The
Coalition currently has six Zonal Coordinators for each Zone of the federation,
17 State Coordinators, representing each group in the 36 states, including the
FCT; 17 LGA coordinators across the 774 LGAs and 17 ward coordinators in each
INEC ward nationwide and intends deploying this structure to support the
candidacy of His Excellency, Mr Peter Obi, in the coming elections.
The Coalition stated that reports from around the country
show that INEC lacks the capacity to register the millions of Nigerians,
especially youths. There have been complaints that Nigerians spend hours
waiting to be captured.
The Coalition in a statement signed by its Chairman, Mr
Marcel Ngogbehei, encouraged its members to embark on voter education,
providing clear information on PVC registration and supporting the logistics to
distribute millions of PVCs that were currently in INEC custody.
The
CPO Chairman listed the various groups involved in the Voters Sensitisation
Exercise and asks the general public to volunteer or support with money and
logistics, adding that “this is a collective task.”
Mr Ngogbehei lamented the lackadaisical attitude of some INEC
staff in various states, but also praised the dedication of staff in many
locations.
“CPO estimates that one INEC machine can only register 1
person in 10mins, an average of 900 persons per month. Therefore, a Local
Government Area with 2 INEC machines can only register 1800 persons per month
if operating at 100 per cent capacity, but with the present capacity, INEC
needs 4 years of continuous voters’ registration exercise to capture the
millions of eligible Nigerians.
“INEC is hereby advised to expand its logistics operations,
establish mobile registration centres, strategically move registration centres
to highly populated areas like markets, partner with market leaders to
encourage PVC collection, send text messages to voters on their PVC
collections, allow people to book online for PVC collections and consider
senior citizens in their 80s or 90s that have mobility challenges.
“INEC should start now to consider their stakeholders and
implement strategies that will provide better customer value, unless they
intend to disenfranchise millions of Nigerians who are eager to exercise their
civic rights in the general elections.
“The electoral body should do everything possible to cater
for thousands that are currently stranded, trying to register in the various
locations or in the alternative, expand its logistics and extend the deadline
by six months.
“Nigerians must be given the opportunity to freely express
their civic rights at this critical time of our nation's history.
“As a Coalition for Peter Obi’s presidential ambition, we
have embarked on voter education, PVC registration and support logistics to
distribute the PVC across the length and breadth of this country and calls on
the public to support the various groups.”
The recognised Peter Obi Support Groups which endorsed the
statement include Peter Obi Support Network (POSN); Like Minds for Peter Obi
(LMPO); Nigeria Needs Peter Obi (NNPO); TakeBackNaija (TBN); Women for Peter
Obi (WPO); Associates of Peter Obi (APO);
Peter Obi FC (POFC); Peter Obi Movement for President
(POMP); Peter Obi Candidacy and Movement (POCM). The rest
are Peter Obi Ambassadors (POA); TeamOHO; Nigerian Diasporas for Peter Obi
(NDPO USA); Peter Obi National Mandate (PONAM); Peter Obi for Good Governance
(POGG); YES Peter Obi Support Group (YESPOSG); Peter Obi to the RESCUE Group
(PORG) and Nigeria Unites for Peter Obi (NUPO).
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