By Edifon ABASI-OBOT
Governor Udom Emmanuel has challenged Akwa Ibom residents and stakeholders to measure their politicking by the number of people in their families and immediate communities that hold a voter’s card.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Political, Legislative Affairs and Water Resources, Barrister Ekong Sampson, the Governor made the challenge while speaking with pressmen on the just commenced 3rd phase of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR III), by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nationwide.
The Governor said voter’s card is supposed to be held by every individual eligible voter, not one on behalf of the family. He therefore urged politicians in Akwa Ibom State to take the mobilization of members of their immediate and extended families to participate in the voter registration exercise as a responsibility.
He said his government remains fully committed to ensuring optimum participation of Akwa Ibom people in democratic processes and positioning the State properly in the national polity. Hence the support of the State government supports towards the success of the voter registration and national identity enrolment programmes in the State.
Governor Emmanuel said community leaders and stakeholders in the politics of Akwa Ibom State to own up the government and complement government’s effort by driving the processes from their primary constituencies. He said elections are determined by the number of eligible and accredited voters ready to show their support by vote cast, hence it is not enough for a politician to display political prowess on stages and mass media when he is the only one in his entire family that holds a voter’s card.
The Governor also restated his administration’s commitment to sustaining the tempo and even improving upon the level of response attained in the previous phases of the CVR, charged stakeholders in various communities in the state to seize the opportunity once again presented by INEC and rise to the challenge of ensuring optimum participation of members of their immediate communities in the CVR III.
He therefore urged every politically conscious Akwa Ibomite to measure their politicking by the number of family members, friends and people in their immediate community that they have been able to mobilize to register and obtain the voter’s card, adding that only the support of such can translate into victory in elections.
