A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, Nasir el-Rufai has appealed to the people of South East part of the country to take the continuous voter registration exercise very seriously.

The former Governor of Kaduna State made the statement on Saturday at a event in Imo State.

A recent update provided by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), showed that the five South-East states are far behind other zones in voter registration statistics.

El-Rufai has now specifically appealed Igbo mothers and daughters to take voter registration seriously, saying that south-east is lagging behind in on-going CVR exercise.

He said: “Because the governance of our country today is democratic, we elect our leaders – we don’t select them, we don’t appoint them. So Voting is important. Registering to vote is a civic duty. 

“This is not a political imperative. It is a civil duty, which, as a citizen, you must take advantage of.

“Looking at the numbers of the continuous voter registry in Nigeria in the last two weeks, the South-East, including Imo state, of course, are lagging behind the rest of Nigeria. 

“I want to appeal to you, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters that are in this room, please take this up and get our children that are 16 years and above, who will be 18 years in two years, and ready to vote. So please go out and register to vote. It is very important.”