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 Law Amendment Bill, which passed its second reading on Wednesday, Oshiomhole urged lawmakers to pursue political reforms and personal accountability in governance.
“As elected people, we as senators should not, directly or indirectly, secretly or openly, aid and abet the unemployed or semi-employed and arm them to disrupt the elections. If we reform our character, this problem is 90% solved. In a fair response, I threw one man, one vote, one woman, one vote,” Oshiomhole said.
Addressing the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Oshiomhole linked the proliferation of weapons and growing insecurity to politicians arming hoodlums during elections.
He warned that political misconduct is at the core of the country’s security challenges.
“After every election, violent crime increases. Because politicians who have purchased guns for hungry children and pay them a small fee, once the election is over, they cannot get the guns back. And then these people use them to do violence,” he said.
He stressed that genuine democracy must be rooted in the free will of the people, not in manipulation or violence.
“The beauty of democracy is not the fact that you find yourself holding an important elective office.
“It is the feeling in your heart that people truly, in their free will, found you worthy to be their voice and to trust our collective heritage in your hands to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number.”
According to Oshiomhole, the integrity of elections depends on the integrity of those contesting them.
“If you achieve it through true fraud 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 the character of politicians is key to addressing most of Nigeria’s electoral challenges.
“Now it is possible to hold elections without cutting your body. Before it was not like that, because we convince everyone that there is no merit in holding elections or carrying them out as if it were a state of war,” he said.
The Electoral Act Amendment Bill has now been referred to the Senate Committee on Electoral Affairs for further review ahead of the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo States.