An aspirant for the Bayelsa State of House of Assembly, Kemelayefa Mercy Ogege has asked voters to resist the temptation to sell their votes because it will only leave them in a perpetual state of misery because vote buyers never fulfill their promises but are only out to loot the commonwealth.
Ogege who is running on the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC), told our correspondent that voters are now wiser and will not fall for vote buyers. According to her, they have come to the realization that vote buyers have an entitlement mentality that ensnares them to recover monies spent on inducing voters by looting the collective treasury.
“If you don’t sell your vote, these people will not feel entitled, they will have to work because they know that the masses are looking up to them for effective representation”, she said.
A first-time politician, she urged the people of her constituency, Bayelsa Constituency 1, which comprises Angalabiri, Toru-Angiama, Toru-Orua, Ebedebiri, Bolou-Oru, and Ofoni, to give her their votes to enable her to deliver to them the dividends of democracy. This is while she noted that her constituents lack basic amenities including public toilets, roads, and school buildings.
Asked why she thinks she is the best person for the job given that her opponents are long-time politicians, Ogege retorted that her pedigree as one who has contributed to the communities through her NGO stands her out. She stated that she has used the last ten years to empower communities by teaching them different skills and educating them.
She maintains that her foothold at the grassroots will count. “Look at what I have been doing for you and imagine what I will do for you if given the right opportunity. I think the power is with the masses”, she retorts.
Speaking further on what she would do if elected, she said, “There are a lot of needs there; first is the reorientation of the people’s mindset and empowering of the youths. And then transformation, there are a lot of things to do. The youths need to be helped, they need to be empowered”.
On what gives her the confidence that she will get the people’s mandate, she said, “that question has been coming up a lot because of the party I am coming from, it’s not only about the party; I am confident because I have the peoples interest at heart; and again, my intentions are genuine and I am confident because I also believe in God and he is the one sending me so if he is sending me, he will back me up as it is not out of my own selfishness.
I can’t come and tell you that I heard the voice of God calling my name; I can say I am convinced because of the leading and direction and what he has been asking me to do before this time, prior to this time. For the past ten to eleven years, it’s been all about impact, and this time it’s like, ‘girl I am taking you to where you’re supposed to be”, she said.
