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By Chinelo Obogo
A group, 40Million Ballots Movement, has unveiled its online membership registration portal to drive youth participation in the 2023 general elections.
Speaking at the unveiling of the portal in Lagos, yesterday, Prof. Pat Utomi, said the country was at a great watershed point. He said the country needed the movement to banish the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the political history of Nigeria.
Comparing contemporary Nigeria to China of old, he said that 99 per cent of the Chinese were living in poverty in the 70s, but that less than two per cent of them are now living in poverty.
He said a lot of Nigerian professionals had fought the June 12, 1993 annulment of election to liberate the country from military dictatorship so that the civilians could be given a chance to rule.
“We thought that now that the civilian rule has come, we will be liberated. But over 20 years after, the politicians have set us backward. We now felt how could we liberate ourselves from these people, and a simple way was discovered: the ballot. When you stay in your room and read newspapers, the illiterates who would collect cheap money, who are few in number, would go out to vote for them. If only you would register, we will vote these people out… We just have to send the message that we are so anxious to see the back of these leaders,” Utomi said.
Convener of the movement and founder of ‘Youths Off The Street Initiative,’ Kennedy Iyere, said if all concerned Nigerians get involved in the movement, the country would be better for it.
Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana, said it was not enough to campaign, but to educate voters on what they ought to do. He noted how Nigerians celebrated the signing of Electoral Bill into law, but that it was not enough to have laws, saying laws must be implemented and that those who engage in electoral violence are brought to justice.
Former national legal adviser of APC, Dr. Muiz Banire, said the 2023 polls offered the last chance for the country to get it right and that if nothing was done, Nigerians would have themselves to blame.
“I want to associate with the initiative as it is more civilised. As you vote, you must be vigilant so that you are not rigged out. The presumption is that these 40 million people would be the informed class and we will educate the vulnerable, and then we will rejoice together as we rescue this country,” he said.
