The chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in South Africa, Prof. Legend Asuelime, has called on Nigeria to embrace electronic voting (e-voting) for a robust and more inclusive electoral system.
Asuelime who stated this during an interaction with journalists in Benin over the weekend said this will allow those in the diaspora to vote and curb double voting in elections.
He explained that the role of the diaspora members in shaping the political direction of the country cannot be ignored as they have always been involved in the electoral process beginning from the campaign to balloting.
“We are aggressively engaging in a campaign for e-voting and have interfaced with Dr Abike Dabiri, who is the Chairman of the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission on the matter. I was part of the Presidential Campaign Council that prosecuted the success of President Tinubu at the last election.
One of the challenges is identifying who is truly a Nigerian in Diaspora. I think the first is to ensure that the means of identification for Nigerians is actually finalised.
Speaking on the 2024 governorship election in Edo, Asuelime said Edo in the diaspora is interested in who governs Edo State
“My main interest is to ensure that APC returns to power in the state. They should take members in the diaspora seriously and understand their role in changing the narrative of politics in the state towards the forthcoming governorship election,” he said.
On the European Union (EU) report on the 24 general elections, he said Nigerians should ignore the report as there is always an agenda behind anything they do.
He said: “Anything the EU says or does, there is an agenda behind it. They play politics as well with it. They want to cut your government so that it will come to them and become their friend.”
“Nigeria does not interfere in EU elections and what we say here does not matter to them. So why should what they say matter to us?”
