 2023 elections again please vote because if you do not vote you're actually still voting there's been a lot of buzz lately around getting the PVC in a permanent voters card the nationally accepted legal and approved instrument for participating elections in Nigeria the reason for this buzz you know is quite evident is obvious the average Nigerian is tired they're tired for a number of reasons rising inflation plummeting value of the Nigerian area while the cost of living comes into skyrockets the cost of doing business in Nigeria you know which is high as a matter of fact Nigeria ranks 130 a distance sad 130 131 actually in the global ranking of ease of doing business let's not talk about insecurity or unemployment or corruption clearly the Nigerian electorate has every reason to be angry and to desire change real change this time hence the buzz around getting the PVC you know without the average without which the average a little voter in Nigeria cannot vote but as angry as we are there's still a lot of Nigerians who are yet to get the PVC I mean it's understandable because a lot of people are of the school of thought that their votes do not count if you need a picture definition of voter apathy and just look at an average Nigeria let's look at some data to put this in context using the last three election cycles in Nigeria in 2011 elections were held on the 16th of April there were three major contenders and 73.5 about 73.5 you know million registered voters 53.7 percent turned up to votes former president had 22 points about 20.5 million votes current 22 states and the FCT Mamiwari had about 12.2 million votes Clinton 13 states and Malanurubadi had two points you know about 2.1 million votes taking one state president and won that election with about 10 million votes in 2015 four years after elections were held on the 28th and 29th of March about 69 million people registered pull that side-by-side with 20 21 that's already five million people less from 2011 five million people less registered to vote in that year again 43.65 percent turned up to votes that's on that 10 percent less than 2011 the two million winners were former president Gluginathan who garnered about 12.9 million votes picking up 15 states and the FCT and you know current president Muhammad Buwari who won that election by 15.4 to 4 million votes Clinton 21 states he won with less than 3 million votes in 2019 elections the elections were held on 23rd to 24th February 2019 they were it's about 82.3 million voters registered the highest so far in the history but unfortunately only about 35% of those people turned up to vote again president Muhammad Buwari won that election with 15.2 million votes Clinton about 19 states about 300,000 less votes than he won with in 2015 while his opposition at Aladjiya Atikwa Boka had about 11.26 million votes Clinton 16 states plus the FCT president Buwari again won that election with less than four million votes now the next election you know the voting cycle is around the corner less than a year away you don't have to be a numbers person to know that the numbers actually do matter and your votes actually does count I mean just do the research and look at the numbers you very clear because if you don't vote you are part of the numbers not making a difference as a matter of fact if you do not vote what you want you are voting for what you don't want if you are not voting you actually still voting so go get your PVC and vote I like about the fact that if you are not voting you are actually voting which is the reality is the sad reality yeah because you leave it to many other people to vote for you and make a choice for you which means that when you are lamenting about the bad state of the government or the country or whatever it is you call it you technically don't have a right to because you really twist your power to vote and the person who you don't want got into power and I think that is and it ties back to what you said earlier on that people focus on the two media parties and if any other party comes so we won't win the election because you're not voting for him imagine every Nigerian has disgruntled against any or any party decides this is who I am going for what kind of election do you think we have would turn up turn upset the election completely yes I think our major problem now I think there's a lot of campaign around PVC's a lot of people do not even have a voters card a lot of people a lot of market women do not even have a voters card I think the educated and educated ones have voters card but a lot of make Nigerians do not actually have voters card so I think the voters card should be should I don't know maybe there's a way around it but I know there's a lot of campaign about getting a voters card but I think now they should make it easy you know maybe each local government or something I don't know I mean I mean I always say but there's no problem in a job that technology can all solve just think about the fact that everybody's crumbling for their BVN now or the NIN that's a very easy way to make voting easy I mean if you think about it by the time they're done with these exercises and I next size you probably have maybe 120 150 million people with NINs right look at the percentage of those people that are vote that are you know eligible to vote it will shock you that you have maybe 60 70% more so clearly you have a hundred million voting population that can actually vote with their NIN. I mean that's the easiest way to do it but even at that even the process of getting registered getting a PBC now it's not cumbersome you all you need to do is register online you get there it's easier and faster for you I registered online my wife didn't we got there there was no queue you know we don't go there 8 o'clock when they're on 11 let's just try let's just go and see I mean when they did it in less than two hours you see but we wouldn't rush now until when it's one week to the end but that's been called for in okay so mine is just some minutes off so basically what you're saying is that we should get our voters card so that we can vote for the lesser of the two evils that will come out on that day that's just it at least because yeah so you know so my point here is that really which of the the people that are coming out at is actually going to be desirable to bring the change as as Kairi said if we don't even become part of the system that brings out the flag bearers then we are going to keep on having this because at this point it's just two people that are going to come out and say less than one we're going to vote for yeah not before today comes in I think rather than say vote for the two of one of the lesser evil why not just waste your votes on any other candidates imagine we all decide I won't vote for any of these two I want to waste my vote yeah I want to go for somebody else you voted wasted on that again it's not just the presidential elections so we need to check the method behind our madness yeah I'm gonna stand in the queue with my vote then just to cast it for somebody I okay you're saying if all of us I've disgruntled and all cast our votes in this direction yeah actually maybe lucky to have a one-trick one yeah yeah it's a game of numbers I mean we thank you for your attention while the program lasted we hope that conventions resented with you and that in some small way encourage you to contribute to your immediate environment little drops of water they say make a mighty ocean don't forget that was it continues on a social media platforms on Facebook plus TV Africa hashtag the AdvocateNG and on Twitter and on Instagram at plus TV Africa hashtag the AdvocateNG to catch up with previous broadcasts go to plus TV dot com plus TV Africa dot com slash the AdvocateNG don't forget subscribe to our YouTube channel plus TV Africa and lifestyle join us next week same time on this station let's keep advocating for a better society see you next time bye bye