2023: Voters must be rational in choosing candidates — Analyst

A Public Affairs Analyst, Mr Waserite Dodoiyi-Manuel, has called on Nigerian electorate to ensure knowledge of candidates and vote rationally during elections.

Dodoiyi-Manuel said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Port Harcourt.

He noted that the era when the electorate chose their representatives based on generosity, philanthropy and skewed empowerment should be discarded if the nation must scale the hurdles of the past.

He said that a greater percentage of the electorate were not rational in their decision to vote.

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“They need to ask themselves critical questions on their knowledge of candidates they are supporting for any office.

“Whoever you support politically, by the time you ask yourself the critical questions, you will know whether you are part of the problem or part of the solution.

“What office is your preferred candidate interested in and what are the candidate’s proposed focus or direction; is there any workable blueprint or policy framework to which one may refer?” he asked.

According to Dodoiyi-Manuel, the electorate need to have good knowledge of their preferred candidates, query what informed them that friends, siblings or political principal are eligible for an office.

“Can your decision be considered as rational, informed and aimed at overall societal development?

“This is where politics starts, as it is very easy for your electoral decision to endanger society.”

The analyst emphasised that generosity, philanthropy and skewed empowerment could not be a reason for electoral decision.

“If you think your vote is a show of appreciation for empowerment or philanthropy, then you are part of the problem.

“This is so because the politicians gather to themselves what they ought to provide for the masses and dish out peanuts as empowerment.

“We then hail them as generous and philanthropic,” he said.