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Olukayode Ajulo |
(Being An Address presented by Olukayode
Ajulo, ESQ. (National Secretary of Labour Party, Nigeria) on the Occasion of
the Opening of Labour Party Nigeria’s International Bureau in
London, UK on Thursday, 4th December, 2014)
Fellow Country men and women,
enthusiastic youth and gentlemen of the press, I thank you for your presence at
this occasion. Compatriots and friends of our party and our country, I bring
you message of hope and optimism from the homeland. Today indeed marks an
important day not only in the life of our party, but also in the life of our
country Nigeria. We are opening the office of our party the Nigeria’s Labour
Party in London. We are opening a great chapter in the history of development
of our party. As a party that has not only declared its detribalized and truly
nationalistic nature, but that which is truly ideological and objective in
praxis, ours remains the only party that builds true hope for the majority of
the downtrodden working people and the poor. We equally remain the voice of the
unrepresented and unrecognized.
Today the population of Nigeria is
estimated at 170 million. The population of Nigerian Diaspora living in Europe
and the Americas totaled 17 million and the total remittance of this population
to the national economy has been estimated to be $21 billion, a whopping 10
percent of the Gross National Product (GNP). Yet the Nigerian
Diaspora that provides such financial base for many businesses back home,
provides the fund for the education of a chunk of the youth population at home,
and provides means of sustenance of a large population of aged and unemployed,
has been alienated from the political process by being disenfranchised
collectively.
The denial of right to vote to the
Nigerian Diaspora is anathema. It is preposterous and opprobrious. It is not
only contrary to standard practice in exemplary democracies around the world,
but equally falls flat in the face of the peculiar facts earlier highlighted.
Compatriots, our recent political
history, particularly in the 1990s when intractable military dictators and
monstrous tyrants held sway over the lives of our people like an albatross,
will furnish anyone who cares to dig deep with tales of heroism and intrepid
deeds by Nigerians in Diaspora. At a point in time the exiles in Europe and
America became the main driving force of the struggle. Every centre of struggle
for democracy strategically had then a Europe or American chapter. Indeed, it
can be said that without the contribution of the Nigerian Diaspora the democracy
we have today would not have come to live when it did.
Yet today Nigerians in the Diaspora
are all but disenfranchised. At the risk of sounding rather hyperbolic I must
say that until we face this blight in our democratic journey and stamp it out,
until we seize the bull by the horn and do the needful, until justice is done
and is seen by all, both at home and abroad to have been done, we can’t say
truly to ourselves and to the rest of the world that we are on the right road.
We can’t say that we are on the road to true democratic development.
Ladies and gentlemen, in this
regard, the road to justice is not lost, the road to justice is not a
treacherous crossroad, neither is it a precipitous bend in a Dante’s dark
forest at the gates of paradise. It is a clear road with prominent road signs.
Only that as a nation, as an emerging democracy, we have chosen to skirt around
far afield. Now is the time to act; time to retrace our steps. We must get back
to the road and face the challenge together. There is no occasion for this than
now.
Therefore, today, at this historic
occasion and on behalf our people in Diaspora and true lovers of democracy at
home and world over, the Labour Party demands that the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) put in place the appropriate structure and
mechanism for the participation of the Nigerian Diaspora in the 2015 general
elections.
For the avoidance of doubt, this by
no means amount to a tall order. In practical terms, it is a very easy thing to
do. INEC needs to register the electorate in the various countries, delineate
voting centers according to best practices and ensure that polling booths are
provided. The countries of the West and Asia have effective infrastructure for
such and it can be done. We must insist that this be done. There should be no
going back.
Let me also seize this opportunity
to address a very cogent issue, one that seems to have cast a pall of doubt and
pessimism over INEC. Recent activities would appear to show that INEC is not
fully prepared to play its role as an unbiased umpire. One: there was the
skewed creation of new polling booths across the country, which the commission
has been compelled by public outcry to put on hold. Now, there is the ongoing
distribution of permanent voters cards (PVC) which is fraught with many
irregularities, including disappearance of names of duly registered voters from
records, displacement of voters, duplication and all what not. But more
disturbing are the pictures of underage voters on queue collecting PVC! All
this makes us a laughing stock. It is the position of our party that all
necessary administrative, technical, institutional and legal steps must be
taken to address this. Untrammeled doubt in the electoral process is a recipe
for instability and failure.
While one is at ease with INEC
explanation that the distribution of the PVC is ongoing process, it is our hope
and prayer that all eligible voters be issued their PVC a month to the election
as prescribed.
It is also our prayer that INEC
should without hesitation do a mock election is some designated areas to test
run the PVC in order to identify the unforeseen factors that may plague the
election in time.
Once again, thank you for lending me
your ears. Together we shall pull through this journey to greatness as a
nation.
Labour Party! Forward Ever, Backward
Never.
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