Rotaract Club of Agege campaigns against violence, vote-buying

The Rotaract Club of Agege, District 9110 Nigeria has urged Nigerians to shun violence and vote-buying as the come out to elect their leaders in the presidential and national assembly elections holding this Saturday.

Flagging off the #Vote and not fight, #Shun election violence, #Election no be war campaign, the club urged citizens to not only exercise their civic responsibilities but defend their votes peacefully.

President of the club, Helen Jegede said: “In a narrow election as this, a small amount of fraud may be enough to change the result even if the outcome is not affected, the revelation of fraud can have a damaging effect and if not punished will reduce voters confidence in democracy.

“This is sad that the nation’s electoral processes have been monetized such that it is only the very rich and those sponsored by rich political godfathers who see politics as an investment, that now contest for political posts in Nigeria. And this is not good for the growth of democracy because money politics schemes out the poor and people with integrity from political participation. 

“However, money should not be allowed to dictate the pace in politics and election outcomes because it robs democracy of its unequalled strengths in terms of popular participation and all these leads to self indulgence, killing of innocent citizens and destruction of property. 

“Also, the electorate should not fall for cheap election campaigns full of lies and tons of unfulfilled promises which is the rhetoric of our politicians, lobbyists and commentators during the campaign. We should vote for the candidate we believe to be the best, and forget about money politics,” she said.