Abia stakeholders deploy music concert to boost voter population

*As thousands of youths struggled to beat INEC deadline

From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia

Abia stakeholders, on Sunday, July 31, 2022, deployed musical concert to boost voter registration in the state as thousands of youths who graced the Abia Youth Power Concert 2022 held at the Umuahia Township Stadium availed themselves the opportunity to participate in the continuous voter registration exercise which ended same day.

The Abia Youth Power Concert was a tripartite collaboration between the Akurulo Youth Foundation, Abia State government through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Youths and Students Affairs and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Though the concert featured several competitions, including rapping and singing categories, special appearances by Abia-born artistes and lectures, the main essence of the show was to provide the platform for many youths in the state yet to register as voters to do so, to enable them to vote in the 2023 general elections.

One of the sponsors of the concert, Chief Barr. Ogala Osoka Jnr., who is also the Founder and Trustee of Akurulo Foundation, told newsmen that “the idea behind the Abia Youth Power Concert 2022 is to get as many young people in Abia State as possible to register before the deadline set by INEC on the 31st of July, 2022.”

“What we had done,” he explained, “is that while the deadline was on the 31st, we had gotten INEC to set up on the 30th to register young people. What we saw in the early hours of the 30th was hundreds of people, by evening, it was thousands. The same thing happened on the 31st. So, we are grateful that we were able to encourage and assist thousands of people to register to be part of the 2023 general elections.”

Expressing his happiness over the outcome of the registration exercise during the concert, Osoka explained that “the reason we did the concert is that we understand the dissection between politics and entertainment which is why we brought musicians to pull out young people. I think we saw that the effect was successful.

“We are glad for the number of people who turned up to register. We are grateful to the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu who partnered with us, we are also grateful to INEC who partnered with us and made their machines available for us to do that. We think it was a success simply because we had thousands of people who registered within the period.”

According to Osoka, “the Concert was non-partisan.” “We went across just to get as many people as possible to come for the registration exercise,” Osoka added, explaining that the exercise fell on the last registration day because of uncertainties surrounding whether the registration exercise would be extended or not, as INEC was in court with some civil society organisations which wanted the registration deadline to be extended.

Although he noted that it was disappointing that people waited till the last minute to register, he appealed to INEC to extend the voter registration exercise to accommodate as many voters as possible, because democracy was very fundamental to the society.

“In developed economies where the electoral commission is funded with public funds, that time frame is open as long as possible. The overriding objective is to have as many people as are eligible to vote, as opposed to restricting it.

“Since public funds are expended towards the Commission (INEC), I think they should leave it open as late as possible for many members of the public to register.

“I understand the constraints INEC has and I understand the lethargy by people waiting as late as possible, but I think it is very important. Our democratic system is fundamental for our society. You must treat it as critical and by such, you must allow as many people to participate as possible,” he advised INEC.

The Akurulo Trustee advised youths to troop out en masse to cast their ballots in 2023, asserting that votes were more powerful than #EndSARs protest.

“My word to the young generation is to seize the opportunity. You went out to protest during #EndSARs, it is more powerful to vote. So, I encourage as many young people as possible to come out and vote in 2023, let’s build a better Nigeria,” he said.

In his contribution, the Senior Special Assistant to the Abia State Governor on Youths and Students Affairs, Hon. Chibuzo Ndom, also explained that the aim of the concert was to educate the citizens on the power of their Permanent Voter Cards, register the eligible citizens who were not yet registered for the forthcoming general election and also discover the untapped potentials and talents of the Abia youth.

He appreciated Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for providing the needed platform for his office to contribute its quota towards the development of the state.

He also appreciated the guest lecturer, Mr. Suleiman Yusuf, who spoke on, “Power of PVCS” and Abia-born guest artistes, Mr. Raw, J. Martins and Rugged Man, for adding glamour to the event.