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Targets 10m youth registration
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
The nation’s leading opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), on Tuesday embarked on road shows to many parts of Abuja, particularly the major markets in the nation’s capital, to sensitize Nigerians on needs to register and obtain permanent voter’s cards, PVCs.
The enlightenment team, comprising mostly of women and youth, held an awareness rally round the town campaigning and distributing enlightenment materials to traders and other people.
The party’s National Woman Leader, Prof. Stella Effah – Attoe, the National Youth Leader, Hon. Mohammed Suleiman Kadada, and National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba led the party’s national officers on the awareness campaign, which lasted hours.
A convoy of vehicles as well as campaigners decked in T- shirts and fez caps with party logo and inscriptions marched through the city.
The long convoy, which took off from the party’s Legacy house office in Maitama, matched through the Central Business District to major markets such as Wuse Market, Area 10 Shopping Mall, Utako Market and the Area 1 Shopping Complex among other locations.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba said the outing was meant to sensitize Nigerians, particularly youth and women on the need to participate actively in the democratic process by collecting permanent voter cards (PVCs) and ensuring participation in the 2023 general elections.
This, according to Ologunagba, was necessary against the backdrop of the fact that the APC government is insensitive, rudderless and has completely failed the country.
The NPS recalled that the ruling APC lied to Nigerians in 2015, came to power by fraud and propaganda.
His words, “of course Nigerians know better, by now. We can compare the price of rice in 2015 and now, we know the unemployment rates in 2015 and now. we know that the rise of dollar in 2015 and now. we know the life discountenance we are experiencing every day by Nigerians.
“We know the insecurity that is now taking over the land, now becoming norm to violence. And we are saying no to these,” he said.
The NPS stressed that the PDP is a party of the people that believe in the sanctity of life, and that the fact that children needs the future where they can be on their own, they can achieve their goals and live a life where they can aspire to be anything in Nigeria.
He said, “So we are urging all youth and women to come out en mass to pick up their PVCs and those who have not registered to take advantage of the window now available by INEC to come out and register and to pick up their permanent voter cards.
“Of course the idea in the past that your vote doesn’t count, I want to assure you that the votes in 2023 will count because we have seen the evil that APC has brought and were determined to move ahead with PDP in the mission to rescue and rebuild Nigeria so we are going on roadshow right now to mobilize and say enough is enough of APC and the madness called the government of APC”, he said.
Lending his voice during to the rally, the National Youth Leader, Suleiman said
“we are out to sensitise, mobilize and re-orientate the youth to come out and register and to get their PVC, Because it is the only way to get good governance in Nigeria.
“We have seen what is happening in the country, the rate of unemployment, insecurity, all the students are at home for over five months. So we believe those comments you’re seeing on social media will turn to vote come 2023”, he said.
On the strategy to be adopted, he said
“we have 36 state youth leaders, we have six zonal leaders, we’re all working together to mobilize Nigerians so that they can vote for the PDP come 2023.”
Specifically, he said PDP youths are targeting 10 million youth and that will vote for PDP come 2023.
Also, the National Women Leader said that women have the largest population in the country and the women have displayed this during elections.
Her words, “So what we are talking about today is not whether women vote for women, we are here for something different. We are here for the purpose of sensitizing the generality of Nigerians, particularly women and youth.
“Women constitute a large percentage of the population, over half. and they need desensitization in order to encourage them to come out to vote en masse. And it applies to the youth.
“The population of the youth in this country is very massive.
Though we are talking about sensitizing the generality of Nigerians, our focus is on the women and on the youth.
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