By Gbenga Oke

LAGOS—Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has blasted the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, over its shoddy distribution of Permanent Voters Card in the state.

Babatunde Raji Fashola

He also said it is the right of every registered Lagosian voter to get his or her PVC as the 2015 elections gets closer.

Fashola who was speaking at Lagos House, Ikeja when he received the team from INEC comprising of the National Commissioner and state commissioner who paid him a courtesy visit, said there are fears in the public domain about the credibility of the electoral process which is not being helped by the tardiness of INEC thus far.

According to him, “The team can come out and make explanations to me as a person on what went wrong but it is difficult to give similar explanations to thousands and millions of electorates that are experiencing what I have experienced as Governor”

“The feedback the State Government have been getting across the State from the exercise is that there is no power, the generator has broken down or that there is no fuel and that the commission is doing twice what it should have done once and this is very unfortunate” he said.

He also charged the electoral umpire to ensure that whatever they choose to do is done well.

Responding, the National Commissioner from INEC who led the team, Ambassador Lawrence Nwurukwu said that INEC was taken aback and worried that the Governor could not obtain his PVC on demand.

While apologizing to the Governor for the shortcoming, Ambassador Nwurukwu said Lagos is not the first place where a similar problem would occur.

He however appealed to the Governor and others affected to please go and re- register adding that the INEC Federal Commissioner gave a commitment that before the middle of December, the problem would be resolved and that INEC would make necessary amendment.