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Clement Idoko – Abuja
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has called on the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to write his name in gold by delivering a credible, fair and acceptable 2023 general elections in the country.
NANS Senate President, Comrade Attah Felix Nnalue, who led a mammoth crowd of students on solidarity rally from the Unity Fountain to INEC Headquarters, Abuja on Friday, said the votes of over 26 million students who are expected to participate in the 2023 elections must count.
While addressing journalists at the Unity Fountain before marching to INEC, Nnalue, commended the Commission’s commitment to bequeath a credible electoral system and process in Nigeria by introducing numerous innovations including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters, and other milestones that INEC under Mahmood’s leadership has recorded.
He said: “Nigerian Students across the globe wish to unanimously inform the Chairman that the 2023 elections are a defining and watershed moment for Nigeria.
“For us Nigerian Students it’s more so because a chunk of our great Association’s former leaders are on the ballot in 2023, of whom we are strongly behind.
“We want to also use this medium to remind the Electoral body that on 13th January 2023, we wrote to the Commission requesting to be part of the Election monitoring team and observers because as partners in progress and as genuine stakeholders with the genuine interest of the Nation at heart we feel obligated to contribute our quota in ensuring credible elections but to our dissatisfaction, the INEC played a blind eye to our request.
“We want to also remind INEC that we have a teeming million population of members across the globe who are curiously interested in who becomes their President in the forthcoming election and of the Importance of Nigerian Students participating fully in the Electoral process because we hold 27.8% which is about 26 million votes which is the highest voter population in this year’s General elections.
“So, for the student’s body not to be included in the process, we find it dissatisfactory and perceive that our organization wants to be sidelined and we are not going to take it likely.
“We, therefore, call INEC Chairman to make history by ensuring that the most freest and fairest elections in Nigeria’s democratic expedition is conducted this 2023,” he said.
A former Acting NANS President, Comrade Prince Miaphen, in his remark called on Nigerian youths and students not to sell their votes and mortgage their future for peanuts.
He urged young people to vote credible leaders based on their antecedents and what such persons could offer when elected into office. “We say no to vote buying; we say no to violence; we say no to all forms of electoral malpractice”.
Miaphen said NANS is solidly in support of all its former leaders who are contesting elections for various offices across the country irrespective of the political performance they are seeking to realise their dreams.
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