Opposition political parties in Nigeria, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), said yesterday that cash crunch will not deter their mobilisation for Saturday’s election.
Although they admitted the strain on their logistics as a result of the lack of cash, they noted that party members would be ready to make sacrifices.
They also noted that they will not induce voters with money, adding that they don’t need to pay money for people to vote for them.
While, most political parties have ended their campaign rallies this week, checks by LEADERSHIP revealed that most of the parties have commenced mobilisation of their party agents across the country from the headquarters in Abuja.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Monday revealed that a total of 1,574, 301 polling units’ agents would take part in the 2023 elections.
The electoral body made this known in a report released yesterday titled, “Summary of Polling Unit and Collation Centre agents submitted by political parties for the general 2023”.
A breakdown of the report showed that the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has 176, 200 agents, while Labour party has 134, 874 agents, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has 176,588 agents, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has 176,223 agents, while other 14 political parties have a total number of 910,426 agents.
However, spokesman of the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Council, Kola Ologbondiyan, said as much as the cash crunch is affecting all Nigerians, PDP members are ready to make the needed sacrifice to ensure the party wins at the polls.
He told LEADERSHIP that party members and its agents would not be deterred by the cash crunch, adding that they have suffered enough in the last seven years and are ready to change the current status quo.
Ologbondiyan said, “The issue of naira redesign is affecting every Nigerian and PDP members are also Nigerians.”
On how members will be mobilised, he said, “Party members are ready to make sacrifices where they cannot get resources. What is of concern to PDP members and every Nigerian is to ensure that we rescue Nigeria from the gross misrule of APC. So, we are confident that party members will make sacrifices.”
Speaking also with LEADERSHIP, the Labour Party presidential campaign council spokesman, Dr Yunusa Tanko, said their campaign is being pushed by volunteers who are Nigerians in need of good governance.
He added that the party does not need to induce such people with cash to vote for Peter Obi or other candidates.
“We know that our campaign has been by volunteerism. It is the people who have been pushing for this great movement and supporting the Labour Party. We don’t need to buy the people to vote for us.
“We want people to go to their polling units and vote,” Tanko said, adding that transporters receive transfers.
“No, no, they are collecting transfers. People are transferring money to travel. Everything is working for our good and we don’t need to pay money to get votes. People are working for us,” Tanko said.
Also, the national publicity secretary of the NNPP, Major Agbo, said his party had been discouraging use of money in politics.
“What we want you and Nigerians to know is that we are discouraging the use of money in politics. Instead of looking for money to buy voters, the money should be for logistics and operations.
“Money should be on the operational aspect of the election and it is not a problem for us. We have to look for logistics to meet our operational requirements.
“We don’t need money for vote buying. The only money we need is for logistics and other operations and not for vote buying, and that is not an issue in our party,” Agbo said.
Similarly, the national publicity secretary of the SDP, Amb Rufus Ayenigba, said they have reached out to the electorates through the proper channel, adding that they are not contemplating vote buying.
“We are not buying votes. We will only mobilise logistics. The people will decide their fate. The eyes of the people have opened.
“They have seen in the last seven years and they are ready to change the status quo. We are mobilising the voters through the usual channel of door-to-door campaigns. We did not rent a crowd and won’t induce voters with money. Nigerians are wise and I believe they will vote their conscience,” Ayenigba said.
