A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Lai Olurode, has urged Nigerians not to let the current challenges facing the country stop them from going out to vote.
Nigerians have been groaning under the pains brought on by fuel shortages and the new naira notes with protests taking place in parts of the country.
Some have died and many others have been injured in protests in some parts of the country over the challenges.
But Olurode, in a statement on Thursday, stressed that the only way to solve the persistent challenges facing the country is to elect leaders who can meet the challenges.
“If we think deeply, the oppressors prefer that a minority make decisions during the vote and throughout the gamut of the electoral process. Unfortunately, only when we come out in large numbers as members of the oppressed class can we ensure disruptions in the power equation,” said Olurode, a professor.
“Today in our country there are enough justifications to want to get away from the elections. In private and public discussions, I have noticed indicators of voter withdrawal syndrome being introduced,” she said.
“High cost of fuel. Mismanagement of the naira swap. Indifference on the part of important state actors. Bank indifference. And many more. For the past few months, there has been utter frustration,” he added.
“The ruling elite is involving a fraction of it in an intra-elite war. There seems to have been a great deal of disagreement among members of the ruling elite. Elite consensus seems impossible. A multiple of fiasco and bad beauty with an apology to former president Obasanjo. What options are open to those who do not belong to the elite? ‘Siddon’ look or active participation? The first option cannot be a defensible cause of the marginalized and the poor.
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“Expressing our discontent by not participating in the upcoming elections is equivalent to strengthening the dominance of the dominant forces in society that are on a collision course with the generality of our people,” said the former INEC commissioner.
“To reject the prevailing value system and the fiasco, we must come out in force to vote on our options.
Mr. Olurode concluded that “street protests are not the responses needed to tackle and address governance challenges that we find bewildering and bewildering. We need concerted efforts to correct the socioeconomic and political mistakes of the past decades. We must not walk away from the polls but stay close to our voting units. To do otherwise is to endorse the status quo.”