Igbos register 12m PVCs, plan massive votes in 2023 Elections

TNT Newsline June 29, 2022 2 minutes read

As the build-up to the 2023 general elections in Nigeria gathers steam, Igbos living in the 36 states across the country and the FCT have registered not less than 12 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise that will end officially tomorrow, Thursday, June30, it has been revealed.

The is an outcome of a massive conscious sensitisation and education embarked upon nationwide by a committee to ensure that every eligible Igbo gets registered and have the PVC.

The committee was set up to sensitize and monitor the exercise across the country and give its progress report. In its preliminary report, the figures show significant improvement against the previous records and figures that put the region in politically disadvantage positions. It was also learnt that objective is to correct the presumption that Ndigbos can be pushed aside in political schemes of the country and the concomitant marginalisation of the region.

A member of the committee who monitored the CVR exercise in Ondo State, South West of Nigeria, said while giving an update on Ondo that, “As at Friday 25th June 2023, over 12 million Ndigbo have been registered to vote in the 19 states of the North, 5.8m in the 6 states of the South-South, more than 10m in the 5 states of the South-East”.

In the report the eminent elder statesman and a chieftain of ImeObi, an arm of the Ohanaeze, discloses that efforts are being made to raise the figure hugely.

He said in a footnote, “Our target is 40m and with the cooperation of INEC Ndigbo will register nothing less by God’s grace and given the sensitisation, education, consciousness and enthusiasm of Ndigbo nationwide”.

This is coming after Senator Dino Melaye mocked the region, saying Igbo votes are no more than 3million and by implication the PDP Presidential Candidate can do without Igbo votes in 2023 Presidential election.

Putting the records straight the Ohanaeze chieftain stated:

“I just came back from a monitoring tour of the situation in the South West.

“Currently we have about 3,609,915 (3,663,629) registered voters in southwest outside Lagos. I am sure it may hit 5 million after the exercise and including Lagos.”