As the people of Ekiti state head to the polls on Saturday, Convener of the OurMumuDonDo movement, Charles Oputa, alias Charlyboy, and his co-travellers have advised each voter who is willing to sell his or her ballot to politicians to do so at the cost of N864,000, stressing that the electorates should refrain from selling their votes if a governorship candidate is unwilling to pay that amount for one.
Apart from the OurMumuDonDo movement, this view expressed on Friday in an open letter to the people of Ekiti state, was supported by Concerned Nigerians, Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Mad Connect, which were respectively represented by Adeyanju Deji, Ariyo Dare-Atoye and Moses Paul.
They argued that since the national minimum wage was N18,000, voters willing to be financially induced must ensure they charge politicians N864,000 being the sum of N18,000 multiplied by the number of months the particular governor they are selling their votes for would be in office.
The groups, however, stated this after calling on the electorates in Ekiti to be peaceful and vote for the candidate in whom they are strongly convinced of his capacity, character, and competence, as well as enjoining them to “shun every politician or political party that offers you money to influence your ballot; they are the real enemies of democracy and good governance”.
OurMumuDonDo then said, “if you wish to sell your vote, you must insist on 864,000Naira as the cost of selling your vote. This is because the minimum wage in Nigeria today is 18,000Naira, and when you multiply 18,000Naira by 48months which is the total number of months that constitute a single tenure of a governor, you will arrive at 864,000Naira. You must bear in mind that any politician or political party that gives you less than 864,000Naira to influence your ballot is simply trying to shortchange you, and you must ignore them. If you cannot get 864,000Naira as the cost of selling your vote, then do not sell your vote at all. Rather, look for a candidate that has the capacity, competence, and character of serving you well and making Ekiti State better for everyone.”
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