THE UNTAPPED POWER OF THE VOTER'S CARD

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THE UNTAPPED POWER OF THE VOTER'S CARD

*Favour Adéwọyin*,
July 25, 2025.

In every democracy, there exists a small, often underestimated object that carries enormous weight. It is a simple piece of plastic or paper called the voter's card, which may look ordinary, but is nothing short of a tool of transformation, a license to power, and a weapon of justice in the hands of every citizen.

Sadly, many still fail to realise the revolutionary force it represents. Many fail to realise that it is a weapon in their hands to cause change.

So, this article is a call to consciousness, a reminder that the voter's card is not just for election day; it is the key to unlocking political accountability, defeating oppression, and restoring dignity to the common man.

My father was a politician, an Awoist. During the Second Republic, my father was a stauch UPN man and a friend of Bola Ige.

My mother was also a politician and she was the women leader of the NPN during the Second Republic.

So, I was born into politics and, growing up, I woke up into politics that nearly took my life during the Second Republic. I have narrated this story severally and I don't want to go into it in this article.

What I want to address is the power of the voting card and why I have gone into my political background has to do with the way my father treasured voter's card. As a grassroot political leader, my father used to keep the voter's cards of nearly all the people in his ward and, during election, he used to give them out to the owners who used to return them to my father after the election.

I didn't know the reason why my father was so keen about keeping people's voter's cards until I grew up. By that time I was no longer a partisan politician, but I was still following what my father was doing and what I learnt from my father's action was that there is power in voter's card that we must take serious, but not trivialise.

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Registration is coming up in August, all adults must behave like our politicians of old who used to make sure all young people who have reached the civic age of an legible voter were registered. This time around, we must make sure every young adult are captured in the next registration. Then, there are those who have lost or mispalced their voter's cards, August will provide another opportunity for such categories of people to get another voter's cards.Now, let me deal with the importance of voter's card to let you know that what you are holding in your hand or what I'm encouraging every young adult to take serious and register to get when the opportunity comes is not just a plastic that can be treated with levity. The following are some of the solid points to prove the importance of voter's card:*1. It is a symbol of citizenship and sovereignty:* Your voter's card is a badge of honor. It confirms that you are a citizen with legal, moral, and constitutional rights to determine who governs your community, state, or nation. It is your voice legalised, your will documented and your power certified.Governments derive their authority from the consent of the governed. The voter's card is that consent in action. Without it, you become a silent spectator in the theater of governance and you will be voiceless, powerless, and easily manipulated.*2. It is the instrument of political power:*With a voter's card in hand, you are not a beggar waiting for crumbs; you are a kingmaker, a policy influencer, and a governance enforcer. It gives you the lawful right to:i. Elect credible leaders.ii. Reject tyranny, corruption, and incompetence.iii. Shape the laws, policies, and budgets that affect your daily life.You can build a new political order simply by casting your vote wisely.*3. It is tool for accountability:*The voter's card is the most effective tool to reward performance and punish betrayal. It holds leaders accountable. Politicians tremble at the thought of losing re-election, not because of protests, not because of riots, but because of a voter armed with knowledge and conviction.Every time you vote, the message you are sending is: "We put you there, and we can remove you!"This is how democracy self-corrects. This is how the people enforce justice, not with guns, but with votes.*4. It is the weapon against oppression:*In the hands of the oppressed, the voter's card becomes a silent but potent weapon that can:i. Dislodge dynasties of looters and cabals of thieves.ii. Uproot the weeds of tribalism, nepotism and marginalisation.iii. Challenge those who use poverty, ethnicity,  religion, partisan politics and town patronage or parochialism to divide and conquer us.When a poor man votes wisely, he strikes a blow against the system that keeps him poor. When the oppressed vote en masse, tyranny shatters.*5. It is the power to influence the future:*Your voter's card is your passport to the future. It gives you the power to decide:i. How your children will be educated.ii. Whether you'll have access to jobs, roads, hospitals and security.iii. Whether you'll live in hope or in despair.A single vote may seem small, but it is a seed. And when sown with wisdom, it yields a harvest of progress and prosperity.*6. It is a tool for peaceful change:*Where people vote, violence is unnecessary. A voter's card replaces the bullet with the ballot. It promotes peaceful transfer of power, strengthens democracy, and ensures stability and continuity in governance.Nations that embrace the power of the vote do not fear coups. They don't fight wars for power and they win elections.Now, what is the danger of neglecting the power of voter's card? When you refuse to vote, or worse, sell your vote, what you are doing is that you:i. Surrender your destiny to those who do not have your interest at heart.ii. Help install and sustain corrupt regimes.iii. Become complicit in your own suffering.Therefore, it is good you know that every unused voter's card is a missed opportunity to change the story. Every sold vote is a betrayal of conscience, a sale of your future for pennies.What you should not forget as long as you live is that your card alone is powerful. But when it is joined with millions of other conscious citizens, it becomes an unstoppable, unshakable, and unbreakable national force!So, the truth is, elections are not won by noise; they are not won by anger; but, they are won by organised, intentional and informed use of the voter's card.As I try to wind up, I like you to appreciate the power of your voter's card that it is not just your civic right, it is your shield against bad governance, your voice against oppression, your sword against corruption and your seed for a better tomorrow. If you don't use it, others will use theirs to decide your fate.My advice to you is to arise and use your voter's card, not just as a right, but as a weapon and you don't have to be told again from henceforth that the power is in your hands! In conclusion, your voter's card is a powerful weapon in your hand that you can use to effect the change you want. If you don't want any political leader or party in power, all you need to do is to make sure you use your voter's card on the day of election to vote him, her or the party out. Don't say you are tired on the day of election. Don't say there is no polling unit in your area and be watching television or paying football on the streets or get engage in any other work. If you do that, you are contributing into another four years bondage and you have succeeded in wasting your time and our collective destiny. To avoid this, register for a voter's card and make sure you vote on the day of election. Thank you. *Pst. Favour Adéwọyin,* _a public analyst, social critic, writer, journalist, public relation manager, youth manager, leadership expert, teacher of the word of God and community leader._

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