Members of the Jolly Rogers and Hudson Decks of the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity) on Friday, raised the alarm that some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Oyo state have employed the services of the Nigeria Police Force and Vilgilante Groups to prevent citizens from gaining easy access to the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) collection centers.
This was disclosed by the Cap'n, Mr Olufemi Adesope, at a media briefing tagged “Our Votes Count Campaign” in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Adesope advised INEC to stand as an umpire with impartiality while conducting the coming election and have the understanding that it will be responsible to all Nigerians whatever the outcome of the election.
He also on behalf of the Association, urged the electorate to vote with their conscience knowing that they will not have another opportunity until the next four years.
He therefore warned Nigerians against vote buying as he averred that they would have to bear the brunt when the repercussion comes.
“NAS has deployed its members across the flagship to monitor the collection of PVC at various INEC offices across the country. In Ibadan and Ogbomosho where we did a local monitoring of the PVC collection, in Ibadan North Local Government, Ibadan North East Local Government, Oluyole Local Government, Ibadan North West Local Government and Ogbomosho North Local Government, we observed some discrepancies in the PVC collection process", the Pyrates Cap'n stated.
Explaining, he averred that “these discrepancies include hoarding of PVCs from overzealous INEC officials and non availability of PVCs even when citizens biodata were seen vividly on the INEC database.
In addition we found that some INEC officials employed the services of the Nigeria Police Force and Vigilante groups to block citizens from gaining access to the PVC collections center".
He went further to state that "these observations raise a concern for us and a full report would release by NAS in due course.
“We want INEC to be impartial and they should know that they are responsible to all Nigerians, not to some form of cabals, not to some political parties and we are confident that they would do what is needed to deliver a good electoral process for the country", Adesope submitted.
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