Legislator Blames Voter Apathy On Farming

A member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Prince Iroanya Opurum has attributed the low turnout of electorate in the Saturday’s supplementary legislators elections  in Etche and Omuma local government areas to farming.
Opurum who represents Etche Constituency 1 in the State House of Assembly, stated this last Saturday during the supplementary polls in Etche Local Government Area, said most of the people have misplaced their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) while others had goneto farm to enable them have something to feed their families.
The lawmaker, who was unwinding with some of his constituents outside his father’s residence while election was on, said he was only obeying the electoral act which stipulates that ‘every voter should remain in his or her unit.
He said that the election in his community, Ndashi has been peaceful, adding that ward 17 and unit 008 had never recorded violence since 2015.
According to him,’’ We have not recorded violence and mayhem in Ndashi. This is to say that, everything is going on peacefully. If this is how election is conducted and electorate  conduct themselves in this manner, INEC should be commended’’.
He expressed dissatisfaction that Ward 17 was included amongst the areas election would be conducted, explaining that last December 10  rerun  election was peaceful but was surprised that his ward was included for another election.
According to him, ‘’there should be no reason why Ward 17 should be among the wards for another elections.