By Chigozie Uzosike
In ensuring that everyone votes in the forthcoming elections, Community and Youth Development Initiative, CYDI has called on citizens to participate in the electoral process.
Speaking during the one day Stakeholders meeting on Strengthening the Capacity of Citizens in Voting Process through the Ochichi.ng web platform with support from International Foundation for Electoral Systems, IFES held in Owerri last Friday, the Executive Director of CYDI, Fexlfame Enisire noted that there’s need for the participants to spread the message of ensuring that everyone votes in the election through the ochichi.ng platform.
He encouraged participants and citizens to register with the platform created specifically for information, education and communication around electoral process in Imo State. ‘The only way we can support the election is to ask other persons to register with the platform to enable them access certain information that will make them knowledgeable on election matters,’ he submitted. He encouraged citizens to go and collect their Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs to enable them vote on election days.
In his speech, Ugochukwu Anozie posited that election is not only about electoral decision, he noted that it is also an economic decision, while calling on citizens to make right choices during the election that will better their wellbeing and livelihood.
In his contribution, the Head of CSOs unit of INEC, Imo State, Ifeyinwa Odinfe said that the PVCs are there for collection at ward levels, adding that citizens who go to local government areas to collect their PVCs should proceed to the wards. She urged citizens to take advantage of the extension of PVC collection and pick theirs.
She noted that those who are not seeing their PVCs may have done double registration, saying that anybody who did double registration will not be able to collect the PVC because according to her, during the cleaning up, the system will trash the person’s name out. She highlighted the issues of low turnout, impatience, last minutes rush, political apathy and insecurity as part of the challenges of PVC collection.
However in the course of the meeting, diaspora voting, electronic voting and extension of election days were buttressed as means of strengthening the electoral process.
