A Chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nelson Ahamefula Akuma, has expressed shock over the disinterestedness of the governors of the south east in the on- going nationwide continuous voter registration exercise.

According to him, while governors in the northern states have begun voter mobilization of their people, southeast governors are still confused or probably waiting for instruction from the Villa.

Media reports stated that Kano, Kaduna, Yobe, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kwara States among others, are some of the states whose governors have begun renewed efforts to mobilize eligible citizens for the exercise.

Akuma said that it is shameful that in the exercise, no state in the South East has recorded up to 1 percent.

He said that it is the lackadaisical attitude of the governors in the southeast that led to the formation of Eastern Security Network because the governors are reneging on their responsibilities of protecting lives and properties of the people.

Speaking further, he commended Nigerian youths who are so far the majority of the registrants.

He said that the country belong to the youths and as such they should take their destiny in their hands by registering and also voting for the candidates that would ensure better future for them during the next general elections.

“I am shocked that a nationwide voter registration exercise is on-going and southeast governors are not doing anything to mobilize the people to participate in the exercise. As it stands now, southeast states are the lowest in the exercise. Abia state has 2,629 who have so far registered which is 0.07 percent, Ebonyi 1,616, 0.05 percent and Enugu is 1,203, 0.03 percent which is the lowest in the country. While states like Osun, Lagos and Ogun States have 14%, 12%and 9% respectively. Recently the governor of Kaduna State directed that no eligible citizen in the state should be left out of the exercise. But none of the governors in the southeast has uttered a word about the exercise. This is one of the reasons why we are being treated as if we are not important in the country because our votes don’t matter much. We cannot threaten any presidential candidate because our bloc vote does not make any impact. The more reason why we are not having federal presence in the southeast.”

He said that registering for the exercise is not just for the sake of participation but also securing the democratic rights, it is also about securing the democratic life of Ndigbo and giving them a strong voice in the scheme of things because is power.

“I want to salute Nigerian youths and the great Nigerian students for their active participation in the exercise. According to INEC statement, youths between the ages of 18 and 34 are the majority of registrants — 2,291,809 or 64.65 percent and students make up 24.89 percent (882,441) of the total online registrants,” Akuma said

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