2015: I don’t have PVC, Sultan tells Jonathan

2015: I don’t have PVC, Sultan tells Jonathan

Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III has told President Goodluck Jonathan that he is yet to be issued with a Perma­nent Voter’s Card (PVC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying that he may not be able to vote in the February 14 election.

According to him, if the situ­ation was not addressed before the elections, many Nigerians, in similar situation would be disenfranchised.

The Sultan, speaking when the president and his campaign team paid a courtesy visit to his pal­ace before kicking off the presi­dential campaign rally at Shehu Kangiwa Square, told Jonathan that “Let’s respect people’s wish­es, let’s not try to disenfranchise anybody. We have had issues of the Permanent Voter’s Cards and I want to tell you that I don’t have my PVC, so it means I will not vote on 14th February, 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 for any problem, there is a solution. We believe you will find a solution as re­gards 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.

While expressing concern over the way religion had been intro­duced into the campaigns, the Sultan said that the outcome of the elections should not be based on religious considerations.

According to him, election­eering campaigns should be issue-based and not on religious sentiments, saying “it is not pos­sible to have an election based on religion in this country because as Muslims and Christians, we have no choice than to live to­gether”.

Source: Daily Times