MEET FRANK OSHANUGOR
By Frank Oshanugor
A pressure group known as the Association of Anioma Professionals (AAP) has emphasised the imperativeness of eligible voters to arm themselves with the Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) and has decided to collaborate with town unions in Delta North Senatorial District to mobilise already registered voters to collect their PVCs before the deadline expires on January 31, 2023.
The Association which is a body of persons of Anioma extraction with diverse academic and professional background committed to the economic, educational and cultural growth of the area, made the declaration in a statement signed at the weekend by a member of its Board of Trustees, Dr. Emmanuel Emecheta.
Membership of the Association is drawn from the nine local government areas that make Delta North Senatorial District.
The resolution to collaborate with town unions in the area to ensure that voters are handy with their PVCs was adopted during its recent meeting where the group applauded the measures taken by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to make the coming general elections credible.
Speaking in a current affairs programme (The Faculty) on Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS) television; Mr. Peter Nkenchor, President – General of the AAP, commended INEC for reducing the impact of the human element in the conduct of the election through the adoption of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and other technology based tools.
“The major factor that has kept voter turn out low is the perception by Nigerians that the system is corrupted and their votes will not count. But that perception has changed with INEC’s introduction of technology in the process. Many people registered to obtain their PVC on account of the innovations introduced by INEC and we commend INEC for this”, Nkenchor said.
He noted that Anioma people in Delta State, just as other Nigerians, embraced the voter registration, convinced that votes will count this time.
“We have initiated a process to ensure that our people take full advantage of the ongoing exercise for collection of PVCs under INEC. One of the processes is our collaboration with the leadership of town unions in Anioma nation. Our desire is to ensure that Anioma people are armed with their PVCs to be able to exercise the power to determine who will govern them.
“Our advocacy is also driven by the fact that after Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa completes his term as governor of Delta State on May 29, 2023, our people are prepared to ensure that Anioma gets its due under whoever emerges governor using the power of its voting strength. We want Anioma to be treated as critical stakeholder in the Delta project and the best way to guarantee that is to boost the voting strength of our people”, Nkenchor said.
He called on the people to be patient with INEC officials when they go for PVC collection,
urging them to ignore all insinuations associated with the exercise.
