Group Tells Nigerians To Vote knowledgeable Candidates for National Assembly 

A group known as the OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative has advised Nigerians to vote for National Assembly candidates that have a knowledge of the workings of the National Assembly.

They gave the advice at a media briefing ahead of the National Assembly election in Nigeria.

The Executive Director, OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, Mr. Oke Epia, said that there are candidates who do not have an idea of what legislatures do.

“We have candidates basically who did not articulate what they intend to do. The fact is that we have been tracking these candidates and it’s disheartening to inform you that most of them do not know why they are coming to the National Assembly. All of these candidates, like 0.3% understand what the legislature does. When candidates begin to say I will alter the Abuja master plan so on and so forth. That’s why we decided to come share this data with you to give the citizens an informed decision on who to vote”. Mr. Epia said. He noted that there is an increased appetite by citizens to vote and they are not appropriately directed on the legislative elections.

” Going by the concept of representative democracy, the legislature is the first and foremost arm of government, and it plays a crucial role in the sustenance of democracy as a tradition for a country’s people,” he said.

The Executive Director pointed out that in each of the six electoral cycles leading to the election of Lawmakers who have served in these Assemblies, the legislative-focused organisation observed that many at times, the majority of the Lawmakers who have served in the various Assemblies emerged through a bandwagon.

“This trend, to a large extent, sacrifices merit for party considerations, especially as the National Assembly elections hold simultaneously with the highly-anticipated Presidential Elections.
In no small measure, this has affected the quality of representation in each Assembly and also prevented effective service delivery. This development is what OrderPaper and our partners have considered necessary to address for the future development of parliament,” he said.

He also said that having monitored the campaigns for the National Assembly Elections, its findings using its special election portal were as follows:

“Majority of the candidates running for the 469 National Assembly seats (especially among the aspiring lawmakers) cared very little about releasing an articulated plan of their campaign promises (manifesto) for their would-be constituents. Most of the manifestoes and campaign promises of the legislative candidates were heavy on subjects outside the core duty of a legislator. From the records available so far, only 0.23% out of the total 4,223 National Assembly Candidates running for elections on Saturday, February 25 2023 had functional and well-articulated manifestoes that speak to these core duties”.

The organisation therefore, fears that a lot of the candidates do not have a clear picture of what they will be doing at the 10th National Assembly in the event that they are elected on Saturday.

On his part, Mr. Basset Basset of HipCity Media, said that there should be more awareness creation to enlighten the citizen on how to vote legislators.

“City residents should have enough knowledge on whom to vote. They need to know the people there are sending to the National Assembly to represent them”. Bassey Bassey said.

Similaely, Senior Programme Executive, OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, Mr Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq, said that People must be elected on the basis of individual merits instead of following bandwagon.

On Saturday, February 25 2023, 4,223 National Assembly Candidates are expected to be elected in 176. 846 Polling Units across Nigeria.

This comprise of 109 Senate Seats and 360 Federal Constituencies.

A total Number of 1,101 Senatorial Candidates, (1,008 Males and 92 Females) while House of Representatives Candidates are 3, 122, (2,832 Males and 288 Females)

Confidence Okwuchi