The leadership of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has urged members to register in the ongoing voter revalidation exercise to be eligible to vote in the country’s elections.

It was stated on Friday that boycotting the INEC registration could harm the chances of Biafra’s sovereignty, adding that possession of the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) is not only for Nigerian elections but also for future participation in a Biafra Referendum.

National Director of Information of MASSOB, Edeson Samuel, disclosed after their meeting that all Biafrans who are constitutionally eligible to vote are ordered to immediately obtain their voter registration cards at the nearest INEC office.

“The people of Biafra must occupy and dictate our political spaces in Nigeria. Ndigbo have delayed our political progress and emancipation through non participation of electoral exercises. Eligible Biafrans must ensure they register for their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) as it is their political weapon and power.

“The possession of the Nigerian Permanent Voters Card (PVC) is not merely for Nigerian elections only but for other constitutional and legal transactions, including engaging and participation in the Biafra Referendum as the only identification card for eligibility of the people that will determine the future of Biafra actualisation through a United Nations observed referendum”, he said

Samuel added that boycotting voter registration and non-possession of the permanent voters’ card are self-inflicted decisions for any future referendum on the self-determination and sovereignty of Biafran independence.

He stated that for a proposed statehood of Biafra to be ordered and declared by the United Nations, “the voting population of Biafrans through the registration and possession of the voters card must be captured in the national demography of the existing political entity (Nigeria) from which the voting population of the coming statehood (Biafra) is seeking a separation”.

MASSOB called for a review of the current voters registration exercise, saying the entire permanent voters registration exercise “is fraudulently dubious, schemed to favour only the northern region”.

The group reiterated Its principle of non-violence towards all approaches to Biafra’s actualisation and restoration.

“We don’t believe in armed struggle, we shall abide by all the principles and charters of the United Nations Declaration on the Righ’s of Indigenous Peoples and the African Charter on the Human and Peoples’ Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, he added. (The Guardian)

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