2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS: GROUP CALLS FOR ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT

A group of professionals, Take A Stand, has called on the electorate to participate actively in the
forthcoming elections in Nigeria. The group made the call Tuesday, in Lagos.
Addressing newsmen through its spokesperson, Engr. Adebola Odu‐onikosi, on what it described as
“the deplorable state of the nation,” the group which noted  that Nigerians complain more than they
act, charged the citizens to take their collective destiny into their hands by ensuring that they
participate actively in the electoral process.

Engr. Odu‐onikosi urged the electorate to ensure a prompt collection of their voter cards and vote
massively in the 2015 general elections.

Also lamenting what it called “election apathy” in Nigeria, the group said that the much desired
transformation of the country can be achieved through the active involvement of sections of the
populace eligible to vote in the forthcoming elections.

According to the group, “we should not just sit, complain and do nothing about the state of the
nation by not voting in the elections. Let us come out massively and vote the right people into the
right offices to get Nigeria working again. And when the people we voted for fail to deliver on their
promises or fail to live up to our expectations, we can boldly register our displeasure with their
inefficiency.”  

On the electoral arrangement made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the
group commended the commission for efforts at the distribution of voter cards, thus far, but urged
them to do more to ensure a near perfect electoral process. The group therefore encouraged the
commission to work assiduously to ensure credible elections come March 28 and April 11
respectively, if the electoral body must remain relevant to the nation’s fledgling democracy.

Also condemning the ineptitude of some political office holders, which the group blamed partly on
the inactive involvement of the people in the electoral process, the body of professionals, in taking a
stand to ensure that the right people are voted into elective offices, implored the electorate to not just vote massively in the forthcoming elections, but to also engage in a thorough assessment of
candidates vying for elective offices, before casting their votes.
While urging law enforcement agents to treat the electorate with dignity in maintaining law and
order at the polls, the group also enjoined the electorate to shun vices capable of scuttling the
democratic process.