From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
A group in Ebonyi – the Ebele and Anyichuks Foundation – has decried low voter registration in the ongoing online pre-registration category of Continuous Voter Registration(CVR) in the state.
The group said a quick glance at the week 9 report published on August 30 in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) website shows that in the online pre-registration category, Ebonyi has recorded a paltry number of 14,750 registrants.
President of the foundation Chief Ifenayichukwuma Odii stated this in Isu, Onicha Local Government Area of the state, while addressing thousands of members and supporters of the group across the state during public enlightenment and sensitisation on the need for them to get registered in order to vote for the candidates of their choice in 2023 general election.
‘The essence of this public enlightenment campaign and voters sensitisation advocacy is to encourage our people to turn out to register to vote and to collect their PVCs when it is available and be ready to exercise their civic rights to determine who governs them during elections.
‘Although we are 3rd in the South East, as we are trailing behind Anambra and Imo states, who has 118, 200 and 27,095, respectively. This is far from 379, 914 being recorded by Osun State, 209,094 by Edo state and 198,148 by Bayelsa State.
‘While in the completed registration category, Ebonyi State is second in the South East with a record of 6,858 newly registered voters, after Anambra state that has 39,428. Whereas Osun has 35,319, Kano State has 29,748 and Bauchi State has 27,78.
‘A lot still has to be done but the challenge is not insurmountable. It is therefore pertinent to note that while INEC is battle-ready for this exercise, the low turnout of eligible registrants to be registered is a huge setback to the progress of the exercise in our dear state,’ he said.