A group, Integrity for Better Nigeria, has cautioned Nigerians against using religion or ethnicity as a deciding factor in the choice of candidate to succeed the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari(retd,) after his tenure in 2023.

According to the group, Nigerians must go beyond casting their votes based on ethnicity, religion or even political parties.

The group’s convener, Patrick Lawson, who stated this while addressing journalists in Kaduna on Sunday, insisted that even as the All Progressives Congress awaited its presidential primary to elect their flag bearer for the 2023 presidency, the electorate should go for credible candidates in the next general elections.

Lawson also decried vote buying of delegates to decide the faith of over 200 million Nigerians during the parties’ primaries to elect candidates for governorship, States and National Assembly members to pilot the affairs of the country.

“Nigerians must not vote according to religious or ethnic affinities,” he said.

This is just as he raised the alarm over political thuggery, noting that the development portended danger for the nation’s democracy.

He said, “Nigerians should think twice about the 2023 presidency. They should elect people who can fear God, which will ensure equity and justice. We should live above religion or ethnicity in the choice of those that will lead us in 2023.

“We will only support credible candidates. We are calling on Nigerians to wake up from their slumbers. No matter the party, we will support credible Nigerians, come 2023.”