The lawmaker representing Edo North, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, has called on his colleagues in the National Assembly to stop arming youths and rigging elections, warning that such practices undermine Nigeria’s democracy.
Speaking during the Senate debate on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which passed its second reading on Wednesday, Oshiomhole urged lawmakers to pursue political reform and personal accountability in governance.
“As elected persons, we as senators should not, directly or indirectly, secretly or openly, aid and abet unemployed or semi-employed people and arm them to disrupt elections. If we reform our character, this problem is 90% solved. In a just answer, I launched one man, one vote, one woman, one vote,” Oshiomhole said.
Addressing Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Oshiomhole linked the proliferation of weapons and rising insecurity to politicians who arm thugs during elections.
He warned that poor political conduct lies at the heart of the nation’s security challenges.
“After every election, violent crimes increase. Because the politicians who have procured weapons for children who are hungry and pay them a little fee, once the election is over, they are not able to retrieve the weapons. And the weapons are then deployed by these people for violence,” he said.
He stressed that genuine democracy must be rooted in the free will of the people, not manipulation or violence.
“The beauty of democracy is not the fact that you find yourself occupying an important elective office.
“It is the feeling in your heart that people actually, in their free will, found you worthy to be their voice and to entrust our collective patrimony in your hands to manage to deliver the greatest good to the greatest number.”
According to Oshiomhole, the integrity of elections depends on the integrity of those who contest them.
“If you achieve it by true rigging or other manipulation, deep in your heart, you know that you are not a happy person,” he added.
The former Edo State governor insisted that reforming politicians’ character is key to addressing most of Nigeria’s electoral challenges.
“It is now possible to do election without cutting their bodies. It wasn’t so before, because we convince everybody that there is no merit in taking election or conducting election as if it is a state of war,” he stated.
The Electoral Act Amendment Bill has now been referred to the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters for further review ahead of the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.