Is the PVC Powerful Enough to Change Nigeria?

Yes or No? This is a simple yet complicated question that will depend on many things. The PVC stands for the “Permanent Voters Card” used by eligible voters to vote for government leaders in Nigeria.

Lately, Nigerian activists have been creating awareness and urging members of the public to get the PVC because it holds the keys to power and change. If you don’t know how to get yours, click here for more information.

The coming 2023 elections will be the best opportunity to make Nigeria better or worse, but is getting the PVC the only thing Nigerians need to do?

Nigeria has numerous problems that are yet to be tackled since its independence. The country was barely struggling to pull her weight through previous military dictatorships and the current democratic leadership. With the APC in power, the state of things in Nigeria has gotten worse in the last eight years, and Nigerians are looking for a saviour. That saviour might be the politician, business mogul Peter Obi of the Labour Party.

But can one man save Nigeria? And how sure are Nigerians that he will make things better?

Unfortunately, I have detected a problem. The problem is that people hope, pray, think and believe that one man can change Nigeria. Since the PVC has the power to put one man (and his invisible VP), let us leave it to him to change Nigeria. This kind of thinking is just what’s sad for the entire well-being of the nation. One man, one president, cannot change Nigeria.

Currently, our multi-ethnic country is rationing the presidency between the North, South, East, and West. If Peter Obi truly institutes a change, what guarantees that the next president will continue from where he stopped? Did Buhari continue to implement change after Goodluck Jonathan? If you say yes, you must know that the change was nothing but hardship and wickedness.

It was as if Buhari’s tenure was aimed at changing Nigeria into something unrecognizable. Inflation in food and gas prices, fuel scarcity, unemployment, and an increase in banditry and terrorism. This was after Goodluck Jonathan tried his best to please the North with amnesty, empowerment, education schemes, and funds. His good deeds were surprisingly shut down by almost everyone, especially the youth groups in the North. They wanted Buhari, they cried, they wanted Buhari, but then we all got him.

In 2015, the youths rallied behind Buhari for the presidential seat because of his “Change” propaganda which was to change power in governance to a new political from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to All People’s Congress (APC), which was a merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Nigerians are facing looting and hardship today because this reigning political party had never been in the presidential seat before Buhari. The power and money they have been looting for the past two tenures are not enough. They still want more, burning out the coffers for next year’s elections and sharing money to delegates in thousands of dollars, whereas ASUU is on strike.

Now Nigeria will be making another gamble in 2023 to change APC and bring in Labour Party, a party that has never been elected to the presidency like APC. We hope they follow through with their agendas with Peter Obi at the head. But if that doesn’t happen, I can always say I warned you.

Who can assure us that the PVC can give Nigerians the power to vote for whoever they want as their president? Truth be told, there is no assurance that your PVC can, and there is proof!

Election Malpractice, Rigging, Hooliganism, and Bribery

What power is there in the PVC if there are possible chances of bribery, malpractice, and hooliganism?

Nigerians will be putting all their eggs in one basket if they think the PVC cannot be used against them. The woke youths and opinion leaders believe it ends there after they get their PVC and vote. It should work in a modern society that has undergone the necessary advancements and change but not in ours. There is no guarantee that the votes will count for the right candidate. Since we know that there can be vote spikes and election rigging, what makes us all still think that the PVC is what guarantees our electoral freedom?

It seems we all want to say, “At least I tried; I did my best, didn’t I?” repeatedly.

Please don’t say it can’t happen. Why can’t that happen nationwide if an APC official skipped counted votes from 79 to 100 in a second? This can go unnoticed in some places during the election. Interestingly, APC and PDP, the biggest fishes, are still out there. Have we forgotten how many millions and probably billions they are currently pumping into this election?

Asides from that, in today’s Nigeria, people will still sell their votes to the highest bidder. Unless a miracle happens before elections day that can remove one of these big fishes leaving Peter Obi (the people’s choice), Nigeria’s chance of democracy is very slim.

If Nigeria wants to depend on PVC, they need to employ an external election coordinator in a neutral country like Ghana or Ethiopia. The PVC is the last step in the right direction, and there are many other steps Nigerians are jumping over. One of such steps is ensuring that the right leaders are at the state and grassroots levels of governance. Even fine-tuning the process for the emergence of delegates who elected the party candidates will make a huge difference. Like I said, one man cannot change Nigeria.

In the end, Nigeria might not need democracy; we might have to implement the leadership of an elected council. The fate of many should not be decided with a PVC because, with it, Nigerians can only hope.

For further inquiries about your PVC, you may email [email protected] or visit www.inecnigeria.org and call 0700-CALL-INEC (070022554632).