2023: Nigerians in diaspora task youths on strength of collective voting

As 2023 general elections draw near, some Nigerians in diaspora have called on the youth to shun vote buying and explore the advantage of unity in electing credible leaders of their choice.

Speaking at a 2nd edition of the Virtual Youth Summit organised by the Nigerian Diaspora Organisation Americas (NIDOA) in junction with the Nigeria Diaspora Network (NDN) and monitored by the Nigerian Tribune at weekend, the Chairman, Nigerian American Public Affairs Committee, USA (NAPAC USA), the host of the summit, Dr. Nelson Aluya said, Nigerian youths need to connect with one another because power is most effective when concentrated.

He called on the youth to be actively involved in the forthcoming election, adding that “the votes that you come together to cast will determine eventually who leads you.

“We must connect these individual leaders and pull resources together so that we can move forward and have a definite objective, achievable goal for our future.”

A co-host of the event and a member of NIDOA, Saheed Adeleye, said collaborative experience is needed to redeem the country and that those of them in the diaspora are passionate about the country, but without the collaboration of the youth in the country, “we will not be able to achieve the prideful recognition of Nigeria that we all desired.”

Miss Kemi Roland, the chief executive officer of IIIimite Access, in her speech, called on the eligible young voters to desist from vote buying, which she said had done more evil than good in the country’s political system.

According to her, it is the citizens themselves that can decide to liberate themselves, by saying enough is enough. Many of the politicians, she said give voters money to get into office and anybody spending money to get into office, sees it as an investment that must be recouped.

“Therefore, every single time voters collect money from a politician, it means they are mortgaging their future,” she said.

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Mr Abdulrahman Bapullo, Chairman, Nigerian Youth Congress, Adamawa, also frowned at the increasing rate of vote buying in the country’s electioneering process, while expressing concern about the negative effect of money politics in Nigerian democracy.

He said to fight against money politics, people with good intention about Nigeria must be ready to get involved in the political process.

According to him, we have a lot of young people that are very intelligent, who have very practical solutions to the problems of the country, but elections are made difficult for them because of money politics and godfatherism in the system.

A legal practitioner, Mrs Kesi Seun-Adedamola, however, called on the youth to be active in politics for better development and advised the youths to talk less and do more.

According to Seun-Adedamola, reality is different from what we talk about on Twitter. “Every change was done by people that demanded for more,” she said and called on the youths to know their unique selling point as a generation.

The Chairman, NIDOA/NDN Planning Committee, Mr Sam Atolaiye, said the essence of the summit was to bring all Nigerian youths together, motivate them, get them involved and give them a sense of direction to drive transformational impact and positive change in the country.

The groups are non-political organisations, working to ensure the development of Nigeria at home and abroad.