The Yiaga Africa, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), has urged residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to shun apathy and come out en-masse to vote during the Saturday’s area council elections to among others minimise rigging and other electoral malpractices.
Executive Director, Yaiga Africa, Samson Itodo made the call on Monday in Abuja at its community outreach at Dutse Market to educate residents on the need to participate in the February 12 FCT elections.
- FCT poll: We won’t reward fraud -Yakubu
- INEC accredits 51 observer groups for FCT area council elections
Itodo said that Yiaga Africa was also using the occasion, as part of activities to mark its 15th anniversary, was mobilising people at the community level to participate in the FCT council elections.
He said that the organisation was mobilising citizens in the market to get registered to vote, and enlighten them on the procedure for voter registration and to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
“This effort is part of our own contribution to mobilising citizens to participate in the electoral system because votes are counting and citizens can no longer sit on the sidelines and complain without taking action.
“Secondly, the turnout for voters at the elections have been appalling and Yiaga Africa working on elections is very disturbed like other stakeholders and we are very determined to change this.
“So, we encourage people to come out and get the leadership that they want, the more you stay away from the voting centres, the more you are going to have political actors subvert the will of the people.
“Riggers rig because people don’t come out for elections, so one way to stop politicians from rigging elections is to come out en masse to vote, stay at the polling station until ballots are counted and results are declared,” Itodo said.
He said that while the group was working to ensure that the electoral law was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, it also wanted to mobilise citizens and give them the confidence to participate in the political process.
He urged Nigerians that have not collected their PVCs to do so because it was the only voice, they had to speak at the forth coming elections both at the FCT and in 2023 General Elections.
He said, “We chose the market in Duste Alhaji because this is a place where people congregate, so we are using this strategy to reach people who have come to the market to procure either goods or services and to enlighten them about this process.
“If we are serious about increasing turnout in elections then we have to go meet people where they are and this is what Yiaga Africa is doing,”
He urged residence against sit at home thinking that votes don’t count.
He said that votes do count and if votes are going to count any further, people have to come out, register, collect their PVCs and vote at the next elections.
Speaking on behalf of the traders, the Chairman Ohanaze Ndiigbo Traders Wing, Dutse Market, Mr. Eugene Aguiyi, pledged the cooperation of his members to ensure that credible leaders were voted in the FCT elections by participating in the process.
On her part, the Director of Programmes, Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, said that there was power in PVCs but politicians want Nigerians to believe that the system would not work.
She said, “They want us to continually stay away from participation so they will always tell us votes don’t count but that is a lie, votes are beginning to count.
“The only way we can change the outcome of the elections is to come out in our numbers and vote especially for local council election. Why are the local council elections important for Nigerians, for women, for residents of Abuja? This is because the local government is the closest government to the people and we cannot talk about democracy without local government.”
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
