By Providence Adeyinka

THE Protem National Chairman of Our Party, OP, Mr. Mark Adebayo, yesterday, urged Nigerians of voting age to ensure they take advantage of the ongoing registration of voters by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, across the country.

Adebayo, in a statement, said it was incumbent on Nigerians to take the advantage of the golden opportunity offered by the ongoing voter registration exercise by the INEC to ensure they register to vote in the 2023 general elections and other elections prior and thereafter.

The statement reads: “INEC has really improved in its registration processing by going technological as Nigerians can now register online and just walk to the nearest registration center to them, perfect their registration and collect their permanent voter’s cards, PVCs, on the spot without hassles. 

“The process is far easier and less cumbersome now unlike in the past. You can complete everything in less than ten minutes as the INEC officials attending to registrants are quite friendly and professional in their conduct as our nationwide observations have revealed. But the numbers of Nigerians taking advantage of the registration exercise should be higher. More people need to take advantage of this window of registration to enable them participate in the electoral processes. “Between 2019 and now, about 10 million Nigerians have attained the age of 18 years and above. If you add the number of adults who haven’t registered before, it comes to many millions of Nigerians. We cannot be complaining about bad leadership if we don’t participate in the leadership recruitment processes through periodic elections and you cannot vote if you don’t register. More Nigerians need to show interest in the registration exercise.

“All hands must be on deck to support INEC through effective voter education. The Commission is doing a lot to encourage Nigerians to register and they deserve all the supports they can get at the moment. Helping INEC is helping ourselves and our democracy to grow. INEC alone cannot do it without the support of all Nigerians. We call on Nigerians who have not yet registered to troop out en mass to register at the INEC Registration Centers nearest to them. It is for the benefit of our country and we the citizens. Democracy gets strengthened by mass participation of the people. Let’s all do it together.”