September 04, (THEWILL) — In Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, youths who have recently turned 18 and are not yet registered to vote are being urged to participate in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is conducting this nationwide exercise to ensure all eligible citizens are registered. The call also extends to those who have recently relocated to Ekeremor and its surrounding areas.
The former Deputy Minority Leader and lawmaker in the Bayelsa State 5th Assembly, Hon. Wilson Ayakpo Dauyegha, popularly called WAD, made this call during a working visit to his constituency headquarters in Ekeremor Town over the weekend.
WAD acknowledged the consistent efforts of INEC in registering new eligible voters and attending to other contingencies during the exercise, to entrench a legacy of free, fair and transparent elections.
The Ekeremor-born political pundit maintained that there was a need for the political class and electorate to support INEC’s innovations in order for the nation to have credible polls in the forthcoming 2027 general elections.
“INEC is trying its best so far, and we must support such efforts for credible polls. Politicians, the masses and civil societies and faith-based organisations, all hands must be on deck for us to have hitch-free electoral processes”, he stated.
While calling on youths and women of Ekeremor and environs, who newly clocked 18 to take advantage of the ongoing voters registration exercise, he also tasked those who may wish to relocate to their constituencies, wards and communities to do so, by making the necessary changes in their voter details online and offline as INEC directs during this period in order to boost the voting population and make their votes count in the next elections.
“We all must exercise our franchise in elections. It is your power to choose leaders for yourselves and not complain that the system is not working when you don’t do your own part and be supportive of INEC and the government in power.
“A credible election is not rocket science. And with the innovations of e-voting through biometric captures, as well as the introduction of BVAS, elections in Nigeria are getting more transparent and widely accepted. Rigging of elections is gradually fading out in the Nigerian electoral system.
“Continuous voting registration exercise must not be restricted to a periodic exercise. It should be a continuous and permanent exercise and never stopped so as to give everyone the opportunity to exercise their franchise at all times”, WAD concluded.
WAD took the opportunity of the visit to his hometown in Ekeremor to rally his constituents, assuring them of his resolve to be there for them at all times.
He mobilised youths and women of eligible voting age and provided some logistics to enable prospective voters yet to be registered in Ekeremor to take advantage of the window for the ongoing voters registration exercise nationwide to get their names enlisted.
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
