A new group, South- South Voters Alliance (SSVA) is set to mobilize voters in the South- South region of Nigeria , ahead of the 2007 general elections.
According to the group’s mission statement made available to THISDAY in Asaba, “SSVA will ensure through proper grassroots voters education that the right candidates are voted into office to ensure delivery of dividends of democracy for the people, especially the youths in the region”.
The group noted that the orgy of youth violence and political thuggery in the Niger Delta /South-South are mostly as a result of unemployment and frustrations experienced over the years. “Therefore, the only solution to peace and rapid development in the region is to ensure that leaders who have the interest of the people at heart are voted into office come 2007. If the right leaders are voted into office, more jobs will be created and this will automatically reduce violence in the region”, the statement said.
Apart from voters’ education, the group plans to adopt credible candidates it will support in the 2007 elections. “The decision to adopt and support candidates for the 2007 elections was arrived at because most Nigerians today don’t properly understand electoral and developmental issues and unless they are properly guided, they may cast their votes in total ignorance thereby compounding their problems. Therefore, as a group, we are determined to improve the living standards of the people, SSVA will on behalf of the masses understudy the programmes and personalities of aspirants with a view to mobilizing support for those with good intentions and visions as well as stop those with fraudulent intentions,” it said. SSVA said it will commence the screening of all South-South gubernatorial and presidential aspirants based on their antecedents soon.