By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has been urged to declare a public holiday to allow civil and public servants in the state collect, replace or transfer their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs.
A public affairs analyst, who is also a chieftain of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Kwara State, Alhaji AbdulRahoof Bello-Làbẹ́làbẹ́, made this appeal in a press statement in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Alhaji Bello-Labelabe, who is also an activist, implored the governor to follow the footsteps of his Zamfara, Abia, Niger and other counterparts, in view of the zeal of Nigerians trooping out on daily basis in their millions of late to collect their PVCs ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He added that it would be equally important for the Kwara State government to complement the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in this regard, by extending the ongoing registration exercise by few days more in line with international best practices.
He averred that the importance of the voter card cannot be over-emphasized in a participatory democracy, in conjunction with the citizen’s civic responsibility, as enshrined in Chapter II, Section 42, of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
The politician further asserted that he doubted the possibility of workers fulfilling this political obligation of theirs if they were not allowed to update their electoral records with INEC at this point in time.
He also use the same medium to call on every adult of voting age in Kwara State to visit the nearest INEC registration centre in their areas of domicile to replace “damaged” PVC or update their “image” and “biodata,” to avoid being disenfranchised in the 2023 elections.
