Atiku Appeals to Nigerians to Collect Their PVCs

*Consoles Jang over death of 16 PDP supporters, donates N40m

*Over 26m registered students must vote, say CSOs

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja and Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has appealed to Nigerians to use the opportunity of the extension of the collection of Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) to go and collect theirs.  
Also, a coalition of civil society groups has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the federal government to ensure that over 26 million students who registered as voters during the strike embarked by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) collect their PVCs.

Atiku in a personal email sent yesterday, said: “INEC continues to work around the clock to ensure that all of us vote in this election and that our votes count.
“But we cannot have a vote if we don’t collect our PVCs. For our votes to count, we must reduce the counts of uncollected PVCs at various INEC-designated collection centres.

“The deadline for collecting PVCs has been extended till Sunday, the 29th of January. Make sure that you take advantage of this extension to earn yourself the power to be part of the mission to recover Nigeria.
 “Also, encourage your partners, friends, families and colleagues to do the same. Remember, it is through the ballot that power truly belongs to the people,” Atiku stated.

In the same manner, the Executive Director of Speak Out Africa Initiative (SOAI), Kenneth Eze, said: “What seems to be a design; whether fore-planned or not, to totally exclude the teeming eligible registered Nigerian students from exercising their constitutional civic rights currently looms, and must be arrested.
“If nothing is done quickly to ensure that the over 26 million eligible registered students collect their PVCs, then they stand to be disenfranchised.”
The group noted that the majority of the students registered for their PVCs during the nine months ASUU strike and are in schools presently.

Eze said: “While the continuous voter registration (CVR) was done during the strike action at home, the PVCs -as access for voting, is currently being distributed when the same students are already in schools and yet no provision by the electoral umpire INEC to factor in the students’ plight since it cannot be collected in proxy – this suggest to be a deliberate plan and must be resisted.
“On this strength, we recommend these two urgent interventions to save our hard-earned democracy whose beauty and ingredient remains inclusiveness and credibility,” the group said.

 “We call on INEC as the umpire to Create School Collection Points (SCP) and Transfer of students PVCs to their new locations across respective tertiary institutions for them to go there, identify themselves and obtain their PVCs since they have database records of each registered student.
“We also call on the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a public holiday for students to travel and obtain their PVCs; as well as mandate the National Universities Commission (NUC), ASUU as education stakeholders to comply and stop academic activities.”

Atiku, Ayu Console Jang over Demise of PDP Supporters

In another development, Atiku and the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, yesterday paid a condolence visit on the former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Jonah Jang, at  his residence in Jos over last Saturday’s  accident which claimed the lives of 16 party  supporters and left 83 others injured.
The party supporters were returning from the party’s zonal rally in Pankshin LGA when the driver of the truck conveying them lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a ditch at Panyam in Mangu LGA of the state.

Commiserating with Jang and the PDP in Plateau, Atiku described the death of the party supporters as painful, saying that their sacrifices would not go in vain.
He said: “For us, the loss is a very painful one that the lives of the young ones are cut short at their prime. We are with you in prayers in this sad moment and we want to assure you that we will stand by you to make sure that those in the hospital receive the best medical attention.”
Atiku commended Jang for the leadership of the PDP in Plateau and assured him that “nobody body makes sacrifices without the sacrifice being acknowledged and appreciated.”

Atiku also announced a cash donation of N30 million to assist in catering for the accident victims who are still receiving treatment at the various hospitals in the state.
Also speaking, Ayu condoled with the PDP family in the state and the people of the state over the sad incident and prayed to God to give them the strength to bear the irreparable loss.
He also announced a donation of N10 million to the accident victims on behalf of the national secretariat of PDP, and said that their sacrifices would not be in vain.

He assured the people that they would continue to work hard not just for the PDP but “to rebuild the country with greater facilities so that such a thing will not happen again.”
Responding, Jang thanked the former vice president and his entourage over the visit, describing the gesture as a mark of love, which the PDP is known for.
Jang, who also described the accident as sad, disclosed that about 10 of the surviving victims had their legs amputated due to the severity of the injuries which they sustained in the accident.