By Chinelo Obogo, Lagos

A political group, the 40 Million Ballots Movement, has unveiled its online membership registration portal to drive youth participation in the 2023 general elections.

Speaking on Thursday in Lagos, at the unveiling of the portal, economist, Prof Pat Utomi, said that the country is at a great watershed point. Comparing Nigeria to China, he said that 99% of the Chinese were living in poverty in the 70s, but that less than 2% of them are now living in poverty. According to him, many professionals decided to fight the June 12, 1993 cause and liberated the country from the military so that the civilians could be given a chance. He said the country needs the movement to banish the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the political history of the nation.

‘We thought that now that the civilian rule has come, we will be liberated. But over 20 years after, the politicians have set us backwards. We now felt that how could we liberate ourselves from these people, and a simple way was discovered; the ballot. When you stay in your room and read newspapers, the illiterates who would collect cheap money, who are few in number, would go out to vote for them. If only you would register, we will vote these people out. You can imagine my excitement when Iyere came up with this initiative. Unfortunately, the leaders too don’t even know the level of damage they are doing to themselves. If only all Nigerians can get their voters card, we will throw out this set of politicians from our political system. We need to prevent APC and PDP from functioning. We just have to send the message that we are so anxious to see the back of these leaders,’ Utomi said.

The convener of the movement and founder of ‘Youths Off The Street Initiative’, Kennedy Iyere, said if all concerned Nigerians get involved in the movement, the country would be better for it.

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‘The people have the supreme power, let’s go to the market. 40 million ballots is a revolutionary way of claiming power from the people who have oppressed us or else we will continue to have the people who have oppressed us for many years,’ he said.

Speaking, human rights lawyer Femi Falana said that it is not enough to campaign but to educate the voters on what they ought to do. He noted how Nigerians celebrated the signing of the Electoral Bill into law, but that it is not enough to have laws, but that the laws must be implemented and ensure that those who engage in electoral violence are well prosecuted.

‘When people talk about 40 million, I wonder, because a political party said it has 40 million members without any register to show for it. But we are talking of genuine 40 million voters and I know you can mobilise more than that. We once has a country that used to be the envy of others in the 50s, 60s and 70s but people like President Muhammadu Buhari have other countries like the United Kingdom, where he goes for medical care,’ Falana said.

Former national legal adviser of APC, Dr Muiz Banire, in his contributions, said this is the last chance for the country to get it right and that if nothing is done, Nigerians would have themselves to blame.

‘I want to associate with the initiative as it is more civilised. As you vote, you must be vigilant so that you are not rigged out. The presumption is that these 40 million people would be the informed class and we will educate the vulnerable, and then we will rejoice together as we rescue this country,’ he said