By Lucky Okoedion
When “Go Get your Permanent Voters Card (PVC)” Becomes A Scam.
Whereas it is true that the agitations of the #EndSars protesters, most of whom are youths will arguably be more strategically achieved when the majority of Nigerian youths go and get registered to vote and also pick up their PVC so that they can in 2023 vote into power one of them as president, or generally vote in a new set of political leaders who will provide the kind of leadership they want and by extension the kind of country they want, yet it is laughable when the response of the agents of the government to this agitation is simply ‘Go Get Your PVC’.
One of the reasons it is laughable is the fact that after the youths who make up the larger fraction of the Nigerian population eventually obtain their PVCs, there are still a thousand and one flaws in our democracy by which the old guards can have their way. One of such flaws is the primaries of the political parties. Many scholars have argued that our democracy is not true democracy, given that a handful of vested interests are still able to influence the choice of candidates at the level of the political parties. Such that at the election proper, the options available to the people will be restricted to one candidate which could be considered “evil”, and another which could be considered “a lesser evil”.
To manage this potential risk facing the “2023 youth take over” goal of most of the #Endsars protesters, many commentators have proposed that a youth political party should be set up to ensure that the 2023 elections do not end up as a contest between one evil and another lesser evil. Read this publication in which we assessed the viability of the idea of a youth political party. For reasons clearly outlined in that publication, it was spelt out as a bad idea.
That is just one of the many reasons why the argument for the youths to stop protesting and rather go get their PVCs is deceptive. We need to keep protesting for the whole electoral process to be reformed. We need:
- Electronic voting
- People do not need to travel to a particular polling unit before they can cast their votes. Your voter’s digital ID should be accepted in all polling units or online.
- Diaspora voting should be allowed
And several other reforms that would make the process more credible and safe. We know how hoodlums and political thugs sometimes make it unsafe for people to go out and cast their votes in elections in Nigeria. When these changes have not been made and you tell the youths to stop protesting and simply go and get their PVCs, you actually insult their intelligence.
Lucky Okoedion is a believer of a new Nigeria where true democracy and effective governance is practiced. He writes from Benin City. And can be reached on +2347038820118 .
