Voters’ Awareness Initiative (VAI), one of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the vanguard of political education in Nigeria, has advised the electorate, particularly the youth, not to vote for candidates with a background of corruption.
The group also urged them to watch out for those imposed by godfathers and refuse to vote for them.
Wale Ogunade
VAI President Wale Ogunade said Nigeria is too blessed that its people ought not to be subjected to their current suffering as a result of bad leadership.
Ogunade, a constitutional lawyer and activist, implored the electorate “to stop corrupt people from emerging as political leaders in 2015.
“Also they should refuse to allow those imposed or rigged into power because they will not be there to serve the people but the man who imposed them, the so-called godfathers. There will be no dividends of democracy from them,” he stated in an exclusive interview with TheNiche in Lagos.
To prepare the public for the election, VAI plans to begin a sensitisation and educational campaign in August, which will also involve membership drive.
The campaign will cut across all strata of society and include the use of the media and street shows as well as town hall meetings.
Ogunade advised the electorate to use the campaign to acquaint themselves with what is expected of them and ensure their votes count and not hijacked.
He urged those interested in being part of the campaign to change Nigeria and free it from the claws of a selfish political class to join VAI to “show that we can all savage the country together.”
He frowned at the diatribe among politicians over the girls abducted from Chibok, warning that politicians should not ridicule the country more as its image has been dented by the event.
Ogunade said Abuja responded ineffectively to the abduction “because those girls are the children of other persons, if they are the children of the privileged ones it would have been different.”
He reminded Nigerian politicians that winning elections “should not be at all costs or a do-or-die affair. They should respect the choice of the people,” citing the recent elections in South Africa and India.
He also challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to study the polls in South Africa and India with regard to logistics, voting and results, lamenting that it is only in Nigeria where an election slated for 9am will not start until 12 noon or 3pm.