Obama woos Nigerians in US
From Laolu Akande (New York)

DEMOCRATIC Party candidate, Senator Barack Obama, is mobilising Nigerians in the US to in turn mobilise the Nigerian community there to vote in next month's American presidential elections.


This is coming as efforts to get out people to vote has extended actively to Nigerians who are also American citizens and are eligible to vote.

Specifically, a clarion call has gone out from the Obama campaign to the Nigerians who are supporting the Illinois-state US Senator to ensure that all Nigerians who are citizens of the US are registered to vote in the historic elections, in the hope that an overwhelming majority of such votes would be cast for Obama.

In an email circulating on Nigerian web and Internet sites here in the US, Barack Obama noted that "the stakes in this election have never been higher, and there's something each of us can do right now that will make a big difference."

Indeed, the stakes are high in the first US presidential poll that would be featuring a black candidate at the general election even as a leading US political analyst Dick Morris explained that two forces are seemingly driving the last weeks of the elections.

Morris, who served former President Bill Clinton as political adviser, noted that the first force is propelled by Americans' quest for change and a complete dissatisfaction of the US Republican Party's eight-year control of the White House.

The second force is propelled by what he called the fear of the unknown by some Americans, who say they do not know Obama well enough and are confused what to do.

This situation as well as the uncertainty of the various polls has ignited get-out-the vote efforts especially by the Obama campaign, which was able to turn out significant new voters during the Democratic Party primaries.

Already, the Obama campaign has recorded over one million new voters, who have registered to vote next month.

In an email that went on earlier in the week to all his supporters in the US, the presidential hopeful is asking his Nigerian-American friends to make "phone calls to potential supporters in key battleground states," in the presidential elections.

Some of those states are Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio - all still regarded as a potential toss up in the elections.

US-based Nigerian activist and public commentator, Dr. Baba Adam, who is also the chairman of the PRONACO-US, is circulating the email he received from the Obama campaign among the Nigerian community.

He is doing this online including on naijapolitics.com, and other active and political websites where US-based Nigerians normally exchange ideas and debate national, international and political issues.

Members of the US chapter of the Action Congress (AC) were also being mobilised by Adam, who is a leading member of the party here in the US.

According to Obama, supporters of his presidential bid like the US-based Nigerians should "get your own short list of voters to contact, and we'll give you everything you need to make successful calls."

He added that, "what each of us does - or doesn't do - in the next few weeks will determine the outcome of this election."

According to Obama, in the email that he personally appended his name to, "millions of folks are tuning into the debates and paying attention to this race for the first time."

"Voters are looking to see which candidate will change this economy so it works for middle-class families. And the most effective way to reach potential supporters is to share our message of change with a personal contact."

The first African-American presidential candidate of a major political party in the US urged his supporters to "take this election into your own hands as we head into this crucial final stretch."

In his message to Nigerians, Dr. Adam asked US-based Nigerians to "please, pass-on this reach-out email from Sen. Obama campaign to all your friends and family who are eligible to vote - and let each one of us call at least one person."

He added that "in many of the states - the deadline for registering to vote in the November 4 (exercise) is closing fast," stressing that Nigerians in the US, who are eligible to vote, should participate in get-out- the-vote efforts and be "part of history."

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/oct/12/5.html