Tina Amanda
As the ongoing voter registration comes to an end, some women have called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for an extension of the voters’ registration.
Chairperson of Amazon Beauties Group, Aimee Sam-Jaja, who made the call during a sensitization for voter registration at Rumumasi market, Port Harcourt, said a lot of people are yet to be registered especially, traders.
According to her, most people have been reluctant to get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) because they have not been well informed that election is no more business as usual where results are prepared and kept before the election.
“We have noticed that a lot of people do not have permanent voters card and the only way we can make this change is when people have had their PVC.
“We decided to go to the grass root and sensitize the people to make them know the need why their voice must be heard and the only their voice would be heard is by getting their PVCs.
“We made them understand that it is very important for them to have PVC, we also told them to erase that mentality of why should I vote when election results have been written down already. We created that awareness amongst them that election is no longer as before.
“We are using this medium to call on INEC to extend the voters registration exercise because lots of traders in the market as we can see today from eighteen (18) years above have not gotten their PVCs and if they do not have it, they can not vote, they can not put the person of their choice in power and when they don’t vote they are already disenfranchised from their right to vote”.
Some of the market women who spoke to our correspondent urged INEC to extend the voters’ registration and consider bringing PVC registration centers close to markets for easy access.
They lamented that in previous years INEC brought the registration point closer to them at the market, but are yet to do the same this year 2022, stressing that majority of traders are yet to get their Permanent Voters Card.
The trader’s lamented that most times when they leave their business to go get their PVC registration done, they end up wasting their whole day without getting it done which discourages them while noting that the process of the registration by INEC is too slow.
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