FORMER Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State and member of the All Progressives Congress, Lady Valere Ebe, on Friday alleged that an estimated 1.5 million people did not come out to vote in the last Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

She said at a media briefing which was held at the President Buhari Campaign office, along Willington Bassey Way, Uyo, that the result released by INEC showed that out of over two million registered voters in the state only 600,000 voted during the exercise.

Ebe said there was the urgent need for the APC supporters to go back and fish out the remaining 1.5 million for the party on March 9, and ensure that the PDP is voted out of power.

She said,”I want all of you seated here to re-double your efforts to ensure  that we send PDP out of the hilltop Mansion on March 9, 2019. We have learnt a very useful lesson that must help us win Akwa Ibom State for the APC.

“From the figures released by INEC, it is obvious that the majority of the registered voters did not come out to vote. Out of the over two million registered voters in the state, the result showed that only about 600,000 voted. We must go back to fish out the remaining 1.5 million voters to come out and vote for APC, come March 9, 2019.”

The Team leader of the State Youth Directorate of the Presidential Campaign Council of the party, Amb. Paul Dowells, said the results of the Presidential and National Assembly polls do not reflect the reality in Akwa Ibom State.

He called on all the APC supporters across the state not to be discouraged by the results but re-strategise to ensure that the governorship candidate of the APC, Nsima Ekere emerges victorious in the March 9 governorship elections.

He disclosed that the Youth Directorate had done an appraisal of the low turnout of voters and discovered some lapses which required urgent steps to address the situation.

The lapses, he said ranged from improper training of their agents, the inefficiency of card readers in some places,  the late arrival of materials and largely-votes buying by the PDP.

Dowells who congratulated President Buhari on his re-election assured the people that the APC youths would come together by working harder to ensuring that the low turnout of voters recorded in previous elections would not repeat itself in the state on March 9. – Punch

– Mar. 1, 2019 @ 15:19 GMT |