A former member of the Federal Character Commission, Aliyu Giade, has warned Nigerians not to sell their votes in the forthcoming general elections because they would be mortgaging their future and that of the country.
He gave the warning in an interview with journalists at the official launch of the North-East zone of a group, The Nigeria Agenda, which was held at the Command Guest House, Bauchi on Wednesday.
Giade, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the event, said,”I am not against anybody collecting money from whoever, but what I am saying is that nobody should sell his/her vote, and nobody should sell his/her conscience.
“It is disgusting to see people sell their votes. It is disgusting to see a housewife putting her voter’s card on top of her hijab looking for N500 in a place like Bauchi in present day Nigeria during the last general elections. It’s a shame.
“If we, the politicians, will go round and distribute his money, so they should collect it because it is their money, perhaps, they might have been stolen. But not for them to come out and start selling their votes, that is wrong and we must start discouraging it.
“If we must persuade them to vote for us, yes, give incentives. You can give cars, bags of rice, sugar, whatever, to persuade someone to vote for you. What I am saying is that whatever you give me, I will take it. It is up to me to say thank you first and then to decide whether to vote for you or not.
“When you sell your vote, you are mortgaging your future and that of the nation and the future of your children.
“However, I know the level of poverty, there are people who cannot tolerate it. Let us reduce poverty by telling people how to take care of themselves.”
He called on Nigerians not to focus on political parties during the 2023 general elections but on the candidates the political parties are fielding.
Also speaking, the convener of The Nigeria Agenda, Ahmed Sajo, said the country was backwards because the leadership didn’t think about how to make the lives of its citizens better.
He stated, “We are rich but our leadership has a poverty mentality, we need to begin to unlock a different mentality in our leaders so that we can have a leadership that looks beyond the money in their pockets.
“If you refuse to vote for people who have money whether they are criminals or whatever. A nation that selects the most criminal amongst them as their leaders, have made criminality their creed.”
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