An All Progressive Congress leader in Abia State, Chief Ikechi Emenike, has embarked on a campaign across the Ukwa Federal Constituency in the state to educate the people of the area on the need to participate in the on-going voter registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission and ensure the collection of their Permanent Voter Cards.
Emenike stressed the importance of their obtaining the PVCs at different consultative meetings with stakeholders in both Ukwa West and Ukwa East Local Government Areas, which make up the constituency.
The stakeholders cut across general and executive committee members of the APC, including Emenike Daughters, Emenike Teenagers, Emenike Vanguard, retired academia, career civil servants, jurists and bankers.
He said the drive was part of the party’s commitment to enlighten voters in the state on the electoral process, commending INEC for extending the period for the registration to the end of the month.
“We want to demonstrate our belief in democracy, which is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. We want you to take part in deciding who leads you through the ballot box,” Emenike said.
He said their clamour for the substitution of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state with the APC could only be achieved if they registered and cast their votes for the APC in the forthcoming general election.
He expressed worry over the level of infrastructure decay, pollution, untapped natural and agricultural resources and youth unemployment across the constituency, which earned the state its oil-producing status.
“I have noticed the reasons for your clamour for paradigm shift in the governance of the state. And I can assure that if our dream comes true, you will know the difference between our party and the others,” he noted.
He lauded them for their support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign and the party, appealing to them to pass the message of good times ahead across the length and breadth of the constituency.
At both Obehia and Akwuete, the headquarters of the areas respectively, the commissioner representing the state in the NDDC, Chief Nwogu Nwogu, and Dr. Tom Otuka, decried the state of the
constituency.
They said their clamour for the change followed their conviction that President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to his anti-corruption campaign and the party’s intention to zone the presidency to Ndigbo in 2023.
They also lamented that despite their continued support for the PDP in the past 20 years, and the oil-producing status of their constituency, neither the constituents nor the infrastructure had fared better.