File: Some Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday said that a total of 1,108,548 million Permanent Voter Cards had so far been collected in Kwara.

Malam Garba Attahiru-Madami, INEC Resident Commissioner in Kwara, disclosed this at the University of Ilorin, during discussions entitled: “Roundtable on peaceful 2019 General Elections in Nigeria: A recipe for sustainable peace, security and development”.

The Programme was organised by the Centre for Peace and Strategic studies (CPSS) of the University of Ilorin.

Attahiru-Madami also disclosed that there are still balance of 298,852 permanent voter cards yet to be collected, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

He said that INEC in Kwara is satisfied that about 90 per cent of the PVC have already been collected, while urging people yet to collect their PVCs to do so before Feb. 8.

The INEC boss in Kwara pledged that 2019 election will be better than 2015 election, adding “I will not do the bidding of any politician and nobody will dictate to me.”

He promised that INEC Kwara will conduct free, fair and credible elections, and will not dance to the tune of desperate politicians.

“I have no political affiliation and I stand by the truth,” he said.

In his address of welcome, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, warned that election periods are palpable times filled with tension, fear and anxiety.

He observed that reports by the National task force on small arms, light and chemical weapons stockpiled by politicians to achieve their ambition is scary and ominous.

Abdulkareem urged Nigerians to build a strong basis for a new culture of peace, if we are to maximize the opportunities of the periodic elections to initiate sustainabile development.

“We need to engage seriously in finding lasting solution to political and electoral violence, which has become endemic phenomen in our society,” he said.

The VC urged INEC and the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to be fair but firm and should not be seen as siding with the ruling party.

A Discussant at the event, Mr Suleiman Abdulrahman, the Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, said INEC is still contending with 638 litigation on concluded or inconclusive primary elections.

He called on the Nigeria police to brace up in ensuring peace and security in the 2019 election, adding that there is unprecedented proliferation of fire arms among the youths.

On her part, Dr Saudat Abdulbaqi, of the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Ilorin called for the engagement of women in the 2019 election.

She urged women to call for peace in the society, while advocating that women should be allowed to play prominent role in governance.

Also, Prof. Noah Yusuf, Director of the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, said the centre was poised to make itself relevant in projecting it’s peace mission within the University, Kwara State and Nigeria as a whole.

He said advantage of peaceful elections are countless, which included healthy competition, economic growth and development in all aspects of the society, accountability by leaders and prevention of loss of lives and property among others.