Date: 2018-08-15

As 2019 general elections draw closer, a non governmental organization, Mohammed Ajia Ibrahim Foundation has urged residents of Kwara State and potential voters to obtain their permanent voter card from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with a view to participating in the process.

It admonished them to avail themselves of the continuous voter registration being carried out by the electoral umpire to register and collect the card through which they can exercise their franchise.

The Programme Officer of the foundation, Mr Abdullahi Rufai, gave the charge during a public awareness campaign organized by the foundation across Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Saturday ahead of August 17, 2018 termination of the continuous voter registration.

Rufai said the foundation was appalled with the lukewarm attitude of some residents to the collection of voter card, describing it as only weapon to elect credible leaders.

He appealed to the electorate to stop complaining but work collectively to bring on board good leaders that would protect and preserve their interests.

The MAI foundation programme officer said it was the belief of his group that INEC cannot solely undertake mobilisation of prospective voters on the reason why they should place premium on voter card.

He also challenged the INEC to step up its game in the ongoing continuous voter registration and ensure that those desirous to obtain the card were not denied because of the problem encountered at the collection centre.

He said, "MAI Foundation is a non governmental organization with the objective of human and community development. In electioneering, PVC is the only instrument you can use in voting. And we in MAI Foundation found it necessary to sensitise people, create awareness, to make people go and register for PVC and actually collect their PVC.

"We have two cases. Some people were not registered and some people registered but did not go for the PVC. We embarked on sensitization programme in line with the INEC guidelines that the registration is going to close on August 17, 2018. With this little time, we put it upon ourselves to go round and create awareness, to make people not to miss out in this opportunity.

"You can't vote in Nigeria without PVC and election is coming in 2019, and anybody that wants to vote must have a PVC and we are all electorate once you are above 18 (years old). The instrument to voting is the PVC, so, we are encouraging them to have the PVC so that they choose the candidates of their choice, so they wouldn't complain. You can't just sit at home and say you don't have a PVC, and you are complaining about the government. What you should do is this, get your PVC and go to the polling unit and vote", Rufai said.

It was observed that the awareness campaign took members of the foundation to densely populated areas such as markets, motorparks where they pleaded with potential voters to take the advantage of the