PVC: Give Lagosians Special Preference, Fashola Begs INEC

PVC: Give Lagosians Special Preference, Fashola Begs INEC

From Ayodele Samuel and Akilani Abdullah, Lagos

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to give special consideration to residents of Lagos State as it embarks on distribution of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) with effect from today, Friday.

Fashola who made the appeal while speaking at the one day Voters Advocacy Stakeholder’s Forum in Lagos, called on INEC and the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) to be fair to Lagos and indeed to treat residents of the state specially given the peculiarities of the state than elsewhere.

“I cease this opportunity to appeal to INEC and its leader, Professor Jega and REC, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, to be fair to the people of Lagos, to treat us the way they have treated other states even better because the whole of Nigeria is here”, the Governor said.

He appealed to residents of the state who are yet to register or could not locate their names on the register, to go out on November 12 and register to enable them to take part in subsequent elections.

He assured residents that the state government would keep them informed of every step taken by INEC at every stage, adding that government remains committed to nurture and prosper democracy.

He appealed to employers to reciprocate his gesture by giving their workers time between November 7 and 9 to go out and pick their permanent voter card to enable them take part in the 2015 general elections.

Earlier in her speech, Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Oluranti Adebule, said the essence of the forum is to create additional awareness about the forth coming Voter Register Verification distribution of PVC and the continuous voter registration exercise, adding that the power to determine leaders from the ward to the presidency lies in the voter cards.