‘Edo, Ondo guber polls litmus test for Nigeria’s democracy’
Vice President of IndustriALL Global Union (IGU), Issa Aremu, has said that the conduct of the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states this year will be a test for democracy in Nigeria.
During a press briefing in Kaduna at the weekend, he condemned the desperation of former national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, ahead of the Edo poll.
Urging all hands to be on deck for a violence-free election, the labour leader asserted: “The litmus test for Nigeria’s democracy and its survival is the successful conduct of the forthcoming Edo and Ondo governorship polls in September and October respectively.”
According to him, all the political actors in the two states must maintain the best of democratic practices to complement the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in conducting credible elections in the two states.
He noted that Oshiomhole’s conduct did not depict him as a former labour chieftain.
“The burden for peaceful and free elections lies on the statesmanship of both Governor Godwin Obaseki and his predecessor, Oshiomhole. The responsibility is more on Oshiomhole, a two-term governor, former chairman of APC and a member of National Institute whose motto is ‘towards a better society’. The sound bites from Edo are not encouraging. In fact, the languages of the campaigns are too dangerously personalised and unhelpful.
He charged Nigerian leaders to imbibe the lessons of Eid-el-Kabir, noting that “experience shows that the long period of military rule underdeveloped Nigeria for decades.”
