The chairman of South Africa’s All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Legend Asuelime, says it is time for Nigeria to adopt electronic voting for a stronger and more inclusive electoral system.
According to Punch, Asuelime said this when he met with journalists in Benin on Sunday.
According to him, the role of people in the diaspora in shaping the political direction of the country cannot be ignored.
Nigerians in the diaspora are involved in the electoral process, from campaigning to voting, he said.
He said he has been in contact with Dr. Abike Dabiri, chairman of the Committee of Nigerians in the Diaspora, on the issue and said they are actively involved in the e-voting campaign.
He expressed hope that President Bola Tinubu, whom he called the diaspora before he entered politics, would help make this dream a reality.
Asuelime said he was part of the Presidential Election Council that led President Tinubu to success in the last election.
He said, “The diaspora (Diasporans) are going home for the elections. We were here in the last elections. We came to vote.
We mobilized people from the Diaspora, we chartered a plane, we came here.
I can tell you that for every single diaspora abroad, there are many families in the country and he is their breadwinner.
So they control certain rooms and can direct them to vote.’ So we brought all of them to this country to vote and to mobilize others to vote.”
‘We participated throughout the campaign. He was part of the Presidential Election Council.
‘The President held town hall meetings all over the world, in the UK and South Africa. In South Africa, I hosted them,’ he stated.
He noted, however, that one of the major challenges is to identify true Nigerians in the diaspora.
‘The first step is to determine how Nigerians can be identified,’ he said.
For example, the National Identification Number (NIN) or Nigerian Identity Card will be automated so that a person can swipe it and vote wherever he or she is.”
In other words, in Nigeria, the voter card and the national identity card will no longer be separate.
Double voting will also be discouraged because once a person uses his or her national ID card, it will be recorded that he or she has voted.”
Regarding the European Union report, the APC chairman said there is an intention behind the report.
On the 2024 gubernatorial election in Edo State, the APC chairman said that what is most interesting to him is that the APC will return to power in the state.
This, he said, is more important to him than his ambition.
He called on the state chapters of the party to take party members in the diaspora seriously and understand their role in the change of government.
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