By James Ezema

Ahead of 2011 election, the African Renaissance Party (ARP) has said the Independent National Electoral commission, INEC, must ensure that Nigerians living abroad register and vote in the elections, even as the party insisted that lack of funds is not enough reason to deny citizen in diaspora their fundamental rights.

The National Chairman the party and its former presidential candidate, Alhaji Yahaya Ezeemoo Ndu while declaring the position of his party on the matter in a statement yesterday maintained that the country cannot afford to ignore the issue of the voting rights of over 20 million Nigerians who reside and work abroad.

According to him, the population of the Nigerian Diaspora is about the entire population of a country like Ghana and therefore called on all well meaning patriots of Nigeria and international human rights groups to join the party in insisting that the Nigerian Diaspora must be registered by INEC and allowed to vote from their nations of domicile for the 2011 elections.

He stated: “As Nigeria gets ready for the 2011 general elections one question that has continually plagued the masses of Nigerian patriots and all who wish the nation well is the issue of the voting rights of over 20 million Nigerians who reside and work in the Diaspora.

“Throughout the history of Nigerian electoral processes the Nigerian Diaspora has constantly been denied voting rights, even though most other nations on earth with half Nigeria’s  population in the Diaspora have long ensured that their Diaspora are allowed to vote in their elections.”

Ndu added that: “There is absolutely no reason under the sun why the Nigerian Diaspora should not vote or be voted for in the forthcoming 2011 elections and any attempt to further disenfranchise them will be resisted and its consequences not be pleasant.

“The shame of it all is that the successive governments of Nigeria are always calling on the Nigerian Diaspora to invest in the economy of the nation .It appears that Nigeria needs their money but not their voice.”

For him, “Nigeria cannot claim lack of funds as hindrance to ensuring that the fundamental rights of Diaspora Nigerians are taken care of, not with the astronomical pays that the National Assembly members allot to themselves.

“In many aspects of human expertise, the Nigerian Diaspora is respected all over the world as being one of the most intelligent , ingenious and hardworking. Certainly, Nigeria needs their brains as well as the brawns to develop.”