National Chief Imam, Fuad Adeyemi, has cautioned Nigerians against selling their votes to corrupt politicians.He gave the advice at the weekend in Birnin-Kebbi, at a three-day workshop for 81 chief Imams in Kebbi State, titled: “Encouraging accountability and transparency through faith-based intervention (EAT-Fln).
Adeyemi, who is Executive Director of Al-Habibiyya Islamic Society, linked the actions of corrupt leaders to the growing insurgency, large number of out-of-school children, poverty and poor infrastructure in schools.
He condemned the large scale unpaid salaries across the country and warned that it was against the will of Allah.Ishaq Azika Mugundi, who spoke on behalf of other Imams, promised top spread the message to their followers.
Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Lagos State, Owolabi Salis, has charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2019.He described the APC TraderMoni scheme as a fraud, and said he was in a better position to defeat the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
He said: “Some individual have cornered the resources of Lagos, and until we collectively remove them through the ballot, they will continue to plunge the wealth of Lagos. Sanwo-Olu is one of them, he is their agent and we must reject him in the coming poll.”
In a related development, a body, the Basic Registry and Information System of Nigeria (BRISIN) has disclosed plans to assist INEC in continuous compiling and updating of the voters register.Head, BRISIN implementation in Nigeria, Dr. Anthony Uwa, who revealed this at the weekend in Abuja, said there is the need for daily and constant updating of information of eligible voters in the country.
He stressed that by 2023, Nigerians will witness an automatic voter registration and also see the diaspora being involved in the election, just as you have foreigners voting in Nigeria for their country’s elections.
Uwa disclosed that as soon as the implementation of BRISIN takes off, a data centre would be built from the ward to federal level, while promising a Nigerian Social Security Number, different from (NIN), as well as assisting the National Population Commission NPC).He said BRISIN would obtain vital demographic statistics and population figure without necessarily conducting head counts from now on.
