An ex-Naval officer, retired Cdr. Matthew Monde-Umo, on Monday in Lagos urged voters to get commitment from politicians before voting for them at the 2023 general elections.
Monde-Umo made the call when he presented five of his publications on how to move Nigeria forward to the News Agency of Nigeria.
According to him, agitations for political leadership or political offices are high because politicians get to power without concrete commitment to the electorate.
“Agitation is in the heads and minds of Nigerians because some people see the opportunity of getting the mandate of the people without commitment to them. They merely promise the people,’’ he said.
Monde-Umo called on the electorate to ask critical questions and follow-up questions from those seeking to represent them in government before surrendering their mandate.
“We must get their commitment and their value worth to fight corruption.
“If we commit a man to make a declaration of his value worth, declaring his assets and liabilities in court, and the electoral umpire also made to do same, we can produce credible leaders.
“Anything short of that, we can never have credible leaders,’’ he said.
He decried the situation where “moneybags’’ found their ways into power through corrupt party leaders, instead of allowing the people to choose their leaders.
The ex-naval officer said: “this is what is happening and killing Nigeria and Nigerians.
“That process creates and encourages corruption because those who buy leadership with money consider the process as investment and they expect returns.’’
Monde-Umo also decried the level of corruption, poverty, indiscipline, religious intolerance, mutual mistrust, ethnicity, and cultism among others in the country.
“Poverty grows in level from year to year,’’ he stressed.
Monde-Umo said that Nigerian leaders must do what they say.
This, he also wrote in one of his books entitled: “A Handbook of `SAYEDO’ Memorandum’’.
He said another book entitled: “Due Process in a Guided Democracy of 2023’’ is a wakeup call for an enduring and successful plan ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Monde-Umo’s other publications are: “Unchain Nigeria for Sustainable Growth,’’ “A Reconciliation of Nigerians to Nigeria at the Polls,’’ and “Nigeria: Transiting a Tailspin Curve of 2020’’.