• Kalu urges Igbo to participate in voter registration
An Igbo group, Njiko Igbo Forum (NIF), has begun mobilisation to shore up support for Mr Peter Obi in the 2027 Presidential election. The National President of the forum, Rev. Okechukwu Obioha, yesterday, in Enugu, stated that the mobilisation was borne out of their conviction that Obi remains “the most credible Igbo,” Nigerians can trust at the moment with their votes.
He noted that though Obi was yet to make clear the political party he would fly its presidential flag in 2027, the mobilisation had become necessary “to reassure Nigerians that he (Obi) will be on the ballot in 2027.” He added that the advocacy would begin with the South-West in the next couple of days and would continue until the 2027 elections are over.
Obioha said that the Njiko Igbo Forum, an affiliate of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, had been in the forefront of the campaign for presidential power to be rotated to the South-East as a matter of “justice and equity,” stressing that it would be an injustice not to allow the region to complete the remaining four years of the turn of the South in 2027.
MEANWHILE, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has appealed to the people of the South-East to actively participate in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Deputy Speaker expressed concerns over the reports of low turnout of Igbo people in the exercise so far. According to a document released by INEC on Monday, while the South-West recorded the highest figures in the first week of the online voter pre-registration exercise, accounting for more than 61 per cent of the 1,379,342 applications received between August 18 and 24, 2025, the South-East recorded 64,696, the lowest among the six geo-political zones.
Kalu, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, said that the voter registration exercise is a crucial step in ensuring that the voices of the people are heard.
Decrying the poor turnout of people for the exercise in the South-East, the Deputy Speaker said that it could have implications for the region’s ability to influence outcomes of future elections.
He stressed that active participation of the region in the process would enable the people to fully exercise their franchise and choose their right leaders during elections.
