As the nation prepares for the 2023 general elections, National Association of Seadogs (NAS), Ogun state chapter has called on Nigerians to get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC), while also urging them to protect their votes from hijack by political thugs.
The state president of the association, Adeyemi Omitogun, stated this at the Feast Of Barracuda Public Lecture with the theme, ‘Gangsterism, Hooliganism & Cultism in Nigeria : Role of the Family’ held in Abeokuta.
Omitogun, while encouraging Nigerians to troop out to exercise their franchise and stand by their votes after voting, said such action would not only hinder cultists or thugs employed by bad politicians from snatching away ballot boxes at their polling units but would also make their votes count.
He admonished the citizenry to bury the idea of ‘our vote don’t count’ which according to him would only give bad politicians using cultist and thugs to hijack ballot boxes the chance to perpetrate their evil acts and win elections.
“We all need to ensure that our PVCs is gotten and we are all registered for this elections because if you say election doesn’t count we realize that we will be giving chance to those people that have evil thought to succeed but if at all we want to do it better lets go back home and tell our folks and family that all of them should get registered and be involved in this election.
“It is not just to get involved in it, we need to be there, we need to be part of the system. We need to ensure that we vote and our vote is being counted in our presence then now leave it to the government.
“It is about economic sustainability, the youth having the hope that that can get something in the future and having the right model not just this gangsterism or hooliganism, let us be schooled not just go back to school and no matter what you don’t need to join cultism before you become somebody, cultism is even a vice in the society and one of the ills the National Association of Seadogs have identify in the society,” he said.
“There should the role of the family, and a father figure, not just abandoning the children out there, when you are a father figure when you give them good home training, they have a cultural back ground, i am sure that they won’t go out there to join cult or bad gan,” he added.
The guest speaker, Prof. Adegbemi Babatunde Onakoya, who was former Secretary to Ogun State Government (SSG) spoke on the ills of cultism and hooliganism in the country, identifying economic sustainability as a solution to reducing the menace.
