Paul Okoye, the Afrobeats singer better known as Rudeboy, has called out the Independent National Electoral Commission over the deadline for PVC collection ahead of next month’s general elections.
The commission earlier extended the deadline for the collection of PVCs to January 29.
INEC had fixed December 12 to January 22 for the collection of PVCs in all the 774 LGAs. It, however, shifted the deadline by a week on January 12.
In a Twitter post on Thursday, Okoye asked the electoral commission why students — who sum up the majority of eligible voters — are still in school amid the ongoing PVC collection.
The singer also argued that most students registered for the PVCs in their various states of residence during the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
He thereafter wondered why they have not been asked to return to their states of residence as the deadline for PVC collection nears.
“Out of the 74 million youths eligible voters, 26 million of them are students and they are all back in school, @inecnigeria why are students still in school by now,” he asked.
Out of the 74million youths eligible voters , 26million of them are students and they are all back in school, most of them registered during the Asuu strike .. it’s 10days remaining for collection 🤷🏾♂️ @inecnigeria why are students still in school by now ? 🤷🏾♂️
— Rudeboy (@rudeboypsquare) January 19, 2023
“Most of them registered during the Asuu strike, it’s 10 days remaining for collection,” he wrote.
INEC HAS NO POWER OVER TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS CALENDAR
The calendar of tertiary institutions is determined by the federal ministry of education after consultation with stakeholders in the sector.
The stakeholders include the senate of the respective institutions and ministries of education across the states among others.
INEC earlier revealed that there are over 93.4 million registered voters in Nigeria.
A breakdown of the figure by TheCable Index, the data arm of TheCable, showed that youths aged 18 to 34 make up the majority by gender/age group with a figure of 37,060,399 — representing 39.66 percent of the voters.
Eligible voters by gender/age group for the 2023 general election#TheCableIndex pic.twitter.com/twa3Vj9MHM
— TheCableIndex (@thecableindex) January 12, 2023
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Further breakdown by categories showed that students lead the list with 26,027,481 — which represents 26.8 per cent of the voters.
Eligible voters by categories for the 2023 general election#TheCableIndex pic.twitter.com/VC2PqafG9K
— TheCableIndex (@thecableindex) January 12, 2023
Paul and his brother Peter Okoye declared their support for Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).
Others who have similarly endorsed the LP candidate are Frederick Leonard, Zubby Micheal, Charly Boy, Mercy Eke, and Tony Umez.
Obi is contesting against Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), among others.
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