Ahead of the 2023 general election, a management consultant, Dr. Felix Ugwu has urged all the relevant stakeholders in Enugu State to intensify efforts towards ensuring a massive voting population.
Ugwu, a senior lecturer at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUTH, spoke over the weekend, at a forum with members of his town, Iheaka, in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area.
The Forum was an opportunity to commend the residents for their active participation in the on-going voters’ registration exercise.
Ugwu said it was worrisome that the South-East was occupying the rear among other geo-political zones when it comes to voting strength.
He said, “I have patiently observed the political atmosphere in Nigeria and I noticed that out of the six zones we have in Nigeria, South-East zone is deplorably lagging behind in the voters’ registration.
“Then, coming to the South-East zone, Enugu State is so far behind. So, it is a very concerning situation for me and I had to look for a way to ameliorate the situation.
“There is no other better place to start except my own place; so I had to partner with a non-governmental organization, the Elite Group; they told me about the mobilization for voters’’ registration and I keyed into it.
“We decided to have some incentives and it worked magic; we told them that they would win something if they registered, and this pushed them to come out en-mass.”
He accused some stakeholders of not doing enough with regards to voter sensitization, stressing that, “we embarked on this project to ensure that we have the votes and we will decide our destiny in 2023.”
When asked whether he had any political aspiration, Ugwu stated that, “I have no ambition whatsoever; apart from supporting Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who has done so well, my interest is to see that our people were armed to elect leaders of their choice.
“The Governor has been doing well and there is no other better way to support him than to be part of this campaign, because he has been on the front line asking our people to go and obtain their voter’s card.
“The Governor keeps talking about this registration exercise and if we say we are in support of his administration, this has to be taken seriously. All the stakeholders should get up from their comfort zones and support the Governor.
“That’s exactly what we have done. We even gave out gift items, including fridge, television, sowing machine, gas cookers, mobile phones, among others to our people, just for coming out to obtain voter’s card,” Ugwu stressed.
Also speaking, Hon. Nnamani Vitus, the immediate past Secretary to the Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area, said the essence of the exercise “is to partner with the workaholic Governor of Enugu State who has all these while been canvassing that people should take opportunity of the continuous voters’ registration exercise.
“Our people must know that if you don’t have a voter’s card, you have no value.
“It is wrong to stay in the comfort of your room and be saying you support the governor. The only way to support him is to obtain a voter’s card, so that by the time he provides direction in 2023, we will follow him.”
