Nigerians are advised by a group not to vote along party lines.

Habila Kayit, the executive director of Godspeed Leadership and Mentorship Development Initiative, has urged the public in the nation not to take party structures into account when casting their ballots in the country’s general elections in February.

In a press release that he personally signed and that was released on Tuesday in Kaduna State, Habila made the accusation.

For the benefit of the nation, he claimed that Nigerians must deliberately consider the background and antecedents of the leaders they want to elect.

Voting for candidates based on their political affiliations is no longer acceptable. In order to avoid the top-to-bottom problem, voters must make an effort to hear from every candidate running for every political position.

Habila lamented that some of the political parties’ primaries were rigged in favor of wealthy candidates and godfather-endorsed politicians at the expense of other, more deserving applicants.

He added that by accepting to vote along party lines, residents had agreed to put up with lousy leadership for an additional four years.

He said Nigerians needed to understand that citizenship came with rights, obligations, and responsibilities, and that the people were the main players in any election.

“Nigerians must exercise their right to vote by supporting candidates who have well-defined plans for giving the nation back to the people. Citizens must therefore reject all attempts to induce security breaches and instead decide to work with all electoral partners to provide secure, trouble-free elections, the official said.

He claimed that, based on Nigeria’s demographics, a small minority of people control the country’s future and were aware of the shortcomings of the populace in terms of politics and governance as well as their unwillingness to work together to demand a better system.

“However, there is optimism for the future as we experience attitude change as a result of our efforts to get voter’s cards registered, collect voter’s cards, promote political education, and improve the electoral system, among other things.

“Citizens should not preserve their voters cards for use as identity or account upgrades only,” he continued. “Let us use it to make a historic statement and defend our country from corrupt and bad government.”