A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Sebastine Hon, has advised both the federal and state government to declare public holiday to fast-track the distribution of the Permanent Voter Card.
Hon made this call in a statement on Thursday warning that if the suggestion was not heeded, the ongoing debate on the shifting of the February polls anchored on poor level of collection of PVCs by registered voters could spark violence in the country.
The senior advocate who also opposed the call for the postponement of the February polls, asked state governors to take the lead in declaring holidays for the purpose of PVC collection.
He cited provisions of section 2(2) of the Public Holidays Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, as empowering state governments to declare such holiday.
He stated, ” There is no single doubt that much disputation has been visited on the Nigerian political landscape, following the calls for and against shifting the February general elections. There is also no doubt that if not carefully managed, this debate and, a fortiori, any attempt to shift the said polls, may snowball into a political violence of unquantifiable proportions. May that day never come again in Nigeria!
“The dispute seems to be centered on the fact that many Nigerians have not collected their permanent voters’ cards. Suggestions that the Federal Government should declare some days as public holidays to enable registered voters who are yet to collect their cards to do so have so far not been heeded, even as time for the election is fast approaching.
“One sure way out is for the various state governments to individually designate some days as public holidays for this all-important exercise to be carried out by Nigerians wishing to exercise their civic responsibilities.
“The power of State Governments to designate some days as public holidays is derivable from section 2(2) of the Public Holidays Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, which is to the following effect:
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