Ohanaeze Ndigbo on Tuesday raised an alarm over the number of permanent voters cards yet to be collected by their rightful owners in the southeast region.

It lamented that It was unacceptable that an eligible Igbo person could be reminded of the need to collect his voters’ card and to vote in the coming elections.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo also called on other southeast governors to emulate Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state and Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state and declare public holidays to compel residents to obtain their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC).

A statement by Its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia yesterday stated that: “Ohanaeze expresses concern that there are thousands of permanent voters’ cards that are yet to be collected by their rightful owners.

“To this end, Ohanaeze draws a distinction between robust campaigns and social media activism on one side and voting during an election on the other. While the modern campaigns cannot be delinked with the Internet, in what some call technological determinism: that is, the thinking in some quarters that the Internet drive the historical, economic, political and cultural changes, in reality, it is the voting behaviour of the group that determines electoral outcome at the polls.

“In other words, while dribbling the opponent in a football match is key, it is the number of goals scored that will ultimately count. It is therefore very strange that an Igbo of whatever class or creed will be reminded on the need to vote in the forthcoming general elections”

Similarly, it asked the Association of South East Town Unions (ASETU) to deploy their grassroots prowess to implement a policy of “no pvc, no community rights” in all the Igbo communities across the entire Igboland.

“Emphasis is hereby made that no genuine Igbo should allow local, private or selfish interests to override the Igbo collective interests. Every Igbo should therefore realize that the PVC and voting on the election day are the sinequanon for the actualization of the Igbo collective desideratum for 2023.” (The Guardian)

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