Diaspora Nigerians all over the world plan to hold an online poll to vote for a presidential candidate from among the 74 candidates approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2019 elections.
The election scheduled for November 1 is under the auspices of European Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria (ECSDN).
Nigerians would line up to vote for a presidential candidate of their choice in February next year. Although the INEC had received forms from 74 candidates, so far, the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stood tops above the others.
Fafore Adebowale Abiodun, ECSDN Coordinator, in a statement issued from Hungary on Wednesday, said the election would take place live on ECSDN’s youtube channel, Nelson M46664 on November 1 by 5.pm Nigerian time.
In a related speech which has gone viral,Frederick Odorige, ECSDN Global Coordinator, stated that it was shameful to see that members of the political class had been engaging in fights, culminating the death of innocent Nigerians because of their quest for power.
Odorige lamented that for too long, Nigerians had been short-changed by the political class, even as he urged the citizens to use the 2019 general elections to elect a suitable leaders.
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He also added that they should use the election to say no to insecurity, disenfranchisement, corruption, rigging, bogus salaries for federal legislators, murderous herdsmen, health tourism for public office holders, budget padding, detention of Nigerians without trial, recycled leaders and indiscriminate allocation of oil blocs, among others.
Odorige, while listing the criteria for the candidate who would eventually emerge president, said the candidate must have no godfather or investor behind him, adding that such trend had been adversely affecting good governance in the country.
He said such a candidate must show Nigerians his source of income and also declare his current assets, promise to restructure Nigeria, fight corruption, give Nigerians stable supply of electricity within three years.
He also said that the candidate should review the salaries and emolument of lawmakers, ban health tourism and education abroad for children of serving public office holders, and declare all armed groups as terrorists, among others.
“Whoever emerges will get the support of ECSDN and by extension, the Nigerian Diaspora during the 2019 elections.”
European Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria(ECSDN) is a project organised by the Nelson M46664 Human Rights Association Hungary and has chapters in European countries, including Canada and the United States.
