By Kamsi Anayo
The leadership of traders in Lagos and the South-East have ordered their members to go out en masse to obtain their Permanent Voter’s Cards ( PVC) in readiness to vote for the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, in the 2023 general elections.
In a video that went viral, an announcer, was seeing going round the Alaba market in Lagos, asking the traders to go an obtain their PVC.
The announcer maintained that there would be a day the market would be locked down to enable the traders to go and obtain their PVC, maintaining that showing their PVC upon demand by the market leadership would be a condition for doing business in the market henceforth.
A trader, Daniel Sampson, who spoke with our correspondent said,” Peter Obi is our member. He was a trader before he became Anambra State governor. He is still a trader. He knows our problems particularly as it concerns import and export trade.
“So, we will give him maximum cooperation in the election. Besides, he has enormous capacity and knowledge on how to reposition Nigeria. He is our choice and the choice of most Nigerians in this project.”
Similarly, the South-East Amalgamated Markets Traders Association has enjoined its members to go and obtain their PVC.
In a statement signed by the association’s president- general and secretary-general, Chief Gozie Akudolu, Alex Okwudili, respectively, the group said traders and their apprentices( who are of voting age) must obtain their PVC in the circumstances.
The group’s statement read in part,
“To this effect, the association is further directing traders in all markets to as a matter of urgency, mandate all traders together with all apprentices who are up to 18years and above, who are without voters cards to hurry to INEC registration centres close to them to register and collect their permanent voters cards.
“Those who registered around the markets but their residences are not close to the market, should use this opportunity to transfer to polling units close to them to enable them to vote with ease during elections.
“The Association directs that this information be given wide publicity in all the markets across the States.
It would be recalled that there was upsurge of youths since last week in INEC offices in the South-East for registration for PVC for the same objective.