Members of the religious body drawn from all parts of the State held a sensitisation rally across major parts of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, stressing the need for eligible voters to take advantage of the on-going voters registration in the 20 local government areas and 20 designated centres put in place by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The State Chairman of CAN, Bishop Tunde Akin Akinsanya, who led other Christian faithful said the rally was part of the responsibility of the religious body to educate and inform members of the public on the importance of participating in the country’s electoral process in the coming elections.
He said that Christians should be actively involved in the process of good governance, hence the need to show interest on issues as it affects the general elections.
Addressing the gathering, the Deputy State Director, National Orientation Agency(NOA), Comrade Kola Obadimu, appreciated CAN for coming up with the idea, urging those who have attained the voter’s age to get registered.
“Anyone that has attained the age of 18 years should participate in the ongoing voter’s registration exercise in all INEC offices in the state. The PVC is important in the electoral process,” he said.
Similarly speaking, the Voters Education Officer of INEC, Lara Onabanjo, warned residents against multiple registrations, saying the religious body as one of the Commission’s stakeholders had set the pace for other groups to follow.
She explained that well over 400,000 uncollected PVCs are still with the Commission for those who registered between 2011 and 2014.
“The Continuous Voter Registration, (CVR) that is on-going is for those who turned eighteen after the last elections, those who have not registered before and those whose details didn’t appear in the National Voters Register.
“There are over four hundred thousand uncollected Permanent Voter Cards at our office in the state. The PVCs of those who registered between May and December 2017 are ready for collection,” Onabanjo said.
Earlier, the leadership of CAN had paid a courtesy visit to the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, at his palace while the monarch admonished other religious groups on the need to encourage their members for the registration exercise.
The monarch added, “The only way to effect change is to vote during an election and you can’t vote in Nigeria today without your Permanent Voter Cards.”
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