By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The umbrella body of Aba and Abia State landed property owners, Aba Landlords Protection And Development Association ALPADA, has called on Landlords, Abia residents and the entire South Easterners to avail themselves the opportunity of the ongoing Continuous Voter registration CVR exercise to register and obtain their PVCs.

This is as it called on the five Governors of the South East region to declare every Friday a work-free day to enable citizens  go  for the registration process.

The body warned against any attempts by Abians , the South East Region, and Ndigbo  to adopt the usual lackadaisical attitude towards such a sensitive and destiny-defining exercise.

ALPADA’s admonition is coming on the heels of the controversy and outcry by some groups and individuals including the nascent Coalition opposition platform, the African Democratic Congress, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP over  what they called suspicious and contentious pre-registration figures recently released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, across the country.

In the figures released, Osun State recorded over 389,000 voters within a few days of the pre-registration exercise.

While Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states joined Osun to record  well over a million plus ,the entire five South East states was credited with less than 2000 registered voters.

The ADC and PDP in separate statements, vehemently rejected the pre-registration figures as released by INEC, and described the development as another ingenious plan by the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, in concert with the Electoral Umpire to compromise the integrity of the 2027 general elections.

In a statement on Saturday, August 30, 2027 ,the President-General of ALPADA, Sir Alphonsus Udeigbo, enjoined all members, Abia residents and the entire South Easterners to accord the CVR exercise all the attention it deserves by fully participating.

He warned that Ndigbo and indeed South East region can no longer afford to toy with such national exercises as Voter registration,and Census matters as done in the past.

He blamed the unfortunate relegation of Ndigbo in the scheme of things, particularly, within the political sphere on what he called the seemingly chronic non-chalant attitude of the people towards serious and existential exercises.

The ALPADA President urged landlords, traders artisans, community and religious leaders in the State and South East to mobilize their people to participate fully in the CVR exercise.

Chief Udeigbo informed that ALPADA has set adequate machineries in motion to engage members, tenants, and all residents on the importance of sparing time out of  their busy schedule to observe their civic obligations which is part of the weapons they have as citizens to hold leaders accountable.

According to him, the people will be assisting to enthrone responsible leaderships, as well as being able  to determine their future  if they make maximum use of the weapon available to them in a democratic setting.

“But if people continue to sit on the fence, displaying lackadaisical attitude towards such life and destiny-defining exercises as Continuous Voter Registration, and Census exercises, then there is no hope securing the future we want.

“The Abia example in 2023 is instructive here. During the election, majority of  Abians displayed an unflinching commitment and determination to effect a change and spoke loud and clear in the end

But assuming they were not prepared by way of not having the instrument to effect the change, their efforts would have been a mirage.

“The seed of  all the problems facing Ndigbo and South Easterners today within the political equation of the country, including the untold marginalization and exclusion from the mainstream governance structure were sowed some years back when, for reasons best known to us, we refused to participate fully in the conduct of Census and processes leading to elections.

” Now, we are saying enough of these self-inflected wounds by Ndigbo. Let our people join others from other regions to arm themselves with the “veritable weapons needed to control their political future.

” This is not the time to say: I am busy with my business concerns and work. Let our people make out time to go and register and obtain their PVCs before the end of the exercise”, Udeigbo said.

The President of the Landlords  association, therefore, urged the Governors of the five States of the South East region to consider declaring work free days as a way of encouraging their people to participate in the CVR exercise.

“Our position as a body of landlords who are critical stakeholders, is that the various State Governments in the South East region should come up with a framework aimed at mass mobilizing the people to participate in the ongoing Continuous Voter registration exercise.

“They should not wait till towards the end of the exercise before doing something concrete to mobilize the people.

Whatever strategies they come up with to encourage people’s participation  should include the declaration of work free days. They can consider every Friday a work-free day till the end of the CVR exercise”, Udeigbo stated .