A sensitization programme has been organized for women in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State in a bid to ensure that a greater number of women participate in the forth coming election as well as resist voter apathy amongst the women folk.
The programme which was an initiative of the wife of the President, Dame Patience Jonathan, targeted the participation of all women in the forthcoming election who will, first of all, collect their Permanent Voter Cards.
According to the coordinator of the programme , Mrs. Nneoma Nwakuna, who was a representative of the wife of the President in Ihiala, made it clear to the hundreds of women gathered, that without collecting their PVCs, their choice candidate cannot be voted in, their future and that of their children will be in the hands of an undesired leader.
The role of women in election cannot be neglected as they have the highest voting strength especially here in Nigeria. It is this common knowledge that a massive grass-roots awareness and mobilization of women had commenced in Ihiala local government.
The sensitization programmed tagged, “Operation collect your Permanent Voter Cards and Tell your Neighbour to do so, drew hundreds of women from all the 20 wards in the council area where the coordinator of the programme drummed the need for every woman to go and collect her voters card. She faulted INEC on the distribution process but encouraged the women not to be deterred by the cumbersome collection process.
The Chairman of Contact and Mobilization Committee of the Presidential Campaign Organisation in Anambra and immediate past State Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Ken Emeakayi, who was one of the resource persons, told the women that their participation in the election would enable them earn positions of leadership in political parties as well as raise the profile of Nigerian women as an important voting bloc. He urged INEC to listen to the complaints of Ihiala women and bring down the PVCs to the poling units where they registered.
Following the complaints of the women who lamented over the distribution process as very worrisome, a trip to the local government headquarters revealed that many people are yet to collect their PVCs. According to the INEC Assistant Electoral Officer in charge of Administration in Ihiala Local Government Area, Mrs. Ebele Ezeaku, said over three quarter of the PVCs have been distributed.
Few male voters were sighted collecting their cards while a pile of cards still remained and yet to be collected. Mrs. Ezeaku urged everybody to go and collect their cards at various collection centres as the distribution is still ongoing.
