The Country's Youth is No Fool

Pambazuka News

17 March 2011

The Country's Youth is No Fool:

Khadija Sharife
interview

Amnesty Intl Nigerian environmental and human rights activist Nnimmo Bassey talks to The Africa Report's Khadija Sharife about Nigeria's upcoming elections, the prospects for political change and whether Nigeria will go the way of North Africa.

KHADIJA SHARIFE: Will the uprising in Egypt and Tunisia spark a similar response in Nigeria?

NNIMMO BASSEY: Nigerians at the moment are demonstrating their desire for change and for the respect of their right to choose who leads them through the eagerness they are showing in the ongoing voter registration exercise in the country. People have had to go to the registration centres as early as 4am to be sure they get attended to early enough in the day. If the political elite scuttle the next election coming up in April through rigging, violence and ballot box snatching or stuffing, I believe what we appear to be cushioned from by the desert buffer will happen here. The energy of people power released in Tunisia and Egypt will find a place here. There is no doubt about it.