BRF IS ANGRY WITH INEC.... Read what he said today

Dear Lagosians,

Barely 48 hours after I addressed you about our preparations and preparedness to enable you participate in the process of issuance of your Permanent Voters’ Card as planned and announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I am constrained to address you again this morning.

This is because by omission or commission, INEC has decided to make this a painful experience for us in Lagos by announcing that it will only issue Permanent Voters’ Card in the following 11 (Eleven) Local Governments:

1. Agege
2. Ajeromi- Ifelodun
3. Ifako-Ijaiye
4. Ikeja
5. Mushin
6. Lagos Island
7. Lagos Mainland
8. Ibeju-Lekki
9. Ikorodu
10. Kosofe; and
11. Ojo

As for the 9 (Nine) remaining Local Governments, namely:

1. Alimosho
2. Amuwo-Odofin
3. Apapa
4. Badagry
5. Oshodi-Isolo
6. Epe
7. Shomolu
8. Surulere; and
9. Eti-Osa,

INEC now says that it will conduct the exercise on the 28th, 29th, and 30th of November, 2014.

I can only imagine the level of disappointment that you must all feel, having waited anxiously for this exercise and in spite of the fact that we had declared a work free day.

I am deeply disappointed at this display of lack of planning that speaks volumes of the contempt and disregard of this national agency for the rights of citizens.

I wish to recall that it was INEC that first announced that this exercise was planned for August, and later shifted to September, and later to today and yet they did not get it right.

If this is a foretaste of what we should expect in the general elections, for me it is a bad start. It tastes awful.

INEC has not answered the question I posed about the delisting of over 1,400,000 (One Million, Four Hundred Thousand) voters from the Register it compiled in 2011 in spite of assurances it gave Nigerians, and billions of naira it expended for the purpose.

As far as this further messy conduct is concerned, its lame excuse is that 9 (Nine) contractors disappointed it.

Who are the contractors? Are they faceless?

I think Nigerians deserve to know who they are.

The information at my disposal is that all the cards are in Lagos and INEC must explain why it had decided not to distribute all of them.

Nevertheless, I want to urge all of you who registered in the 11 (Eleven) Local Governments, namely:
1. Agege
2. Ajeromi- Ifelodun
3. Ifako-Ijaiye
4. Ikeja
5. Mushin
6. Lagos Island
7. Lagos Mainland
8. Ibeju-Lekki
9. Ikorodu
10. Kosofe; and
11. Ojo
to go and collect your Permanent Voters’ Card to prevent yourselves from being disenfranchised.

Our love for democracy, and development that it had brought to our State and our lives must be bigger and stronger than our disappointment at a national agency that has let itself down.

For those of you who registered in the suspended 9 (Nine) Local Governments, namely:

1. Alimosho,
2. Amuwo-Odofin
3. Apapa
4. Badagry
5. Oshodi-Isolo
6. Epe
7. Shomolu
8. Surulere; and
9. Eti-Osa
I urge you to observe the work free day and stay at home.

My Local Government in Surulere, that of the Deputy Governor in Alimosho and the Speaker in Epe are among those affected by the suspension.

I urge you to remain peaceful, but determined to be vigilant and assured, that nobody will take your rights away, because our Government will stand up for you.

Thank you for listening.

God bless you all.

Eko o ni baje!

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State

November 7, 2014

Femi Davies Metronews

Like