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An Igbo organization, the Igbo Agenda Dialogue, has begun a voters registration campaign, calling on the people of the region across Nigeria and in the diaspora to get fully involved in the ongoing voter registration exercise to regain their political relevance in the country.
In an open letter addressed to Ndigbo, the National Chairman of the group, Chekwas Okorie, urged Igbo people everywhere to prepare for the coming elections by becoming more politically active and participating fully in the democratic process.
He reminded the Igbo community that its population in Nigeria is widely believed to be the largest among the country’s ethnic nationalities, noting that Igbo people are the most geographically spread ethnic group in Nigeria.
Okorie pointed out that despite the alleged failure of successive Nigerian governments to conduct a national population census since 2006, studies conducted over the years indicate that Igbo people make up about ninety nine percent of the population in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
He added that the same studies also suggest that the Igbos represent the second largest single ethnic population in the remaining thirty-one States of the Federation and in the Federal Capital Territory.
“Nigeria’s democratic system is driven by numbers and geographical spread during elections. Because of this, a politically conscious Igbo electorate should always be a major factor in determining political power in the country since the return of democratic rule. 2027 elections present a major opportunity for Ndigbo to reclaim their rightful place in Nigeria’s political structure,” he maintained.
Okorie explained that the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, remains open for continuous online voter registration, but regretted that the Southeast is still far behind other geopolitical zones in the number of people registering to vote.
He further added that registered voters now have the opportunity to change their polling units online to locations that are more convenient for them to vote on election day.
“Data released by the electoral commission from the 2023 general elections showed that the Southeast had about 11.5 million registered voters, out of which, only 2.2 million voters participated in the presidential election.
The region already had the lowest number of registered voters among the geopolitical zones, and the situation was made worse by the fact that about nine point three million registered voters did not take part in the presidential election,”he added.
The National Chairman of the Igbo body cautioned that the situation should not continue because it weakens the political influence of the region.
He said failure to register as a voter means denying oneself the fundamental right to take part in choosing representatives, Governors and the President.
Okorie further explained that refusing to vote during elections indirectly helps candidates that the people do not want to represent or govern them.
“In the event of a referendum or a plebiscite for self-determination, creation of new states or the recall of an elected representative, only citizens with valid voter cards will be allowed to participate.
“Nigeria has not conducted a credible population census in many years; the number of votes recorded from a region often becomes the measure used to judge the political relevance of that region,” he further maintained.
Southeast group urges Ndigbo to join voter registration exercise
