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Oshiomhole, Swedish Ambassador Harp on electoral reform
Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, says the talk about democracy will be useless if Nigerians do not fight to ensure the entrenchment of the principle of one-man-one-vote.
‘‘Being a victim of electoral malpractices myself”, says Oshiomhole, ‘‘where I had to go through 18 months of judicial intervention to reclaim my mandate, I have no choice other than fighting for the sanctity of the vote”. ‘‘In Edo State, he continues, ‘‘we are totally committed to electoral overhaul”.
The governor who was speaking when he received the Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Per Lingarde at Government House, Benin City, says, “We just had an election in which government was able to provide enough security that allowed the people to vote. We were able to identify fake INEC officials and expect that they should be prosecuted”.
“The campaigns should be to reprimand those people who are guilty of electoral malpractices which would serve as disincentive to others who might see election rigging as laudable vocation”, he quips.
On the knotty issues of child trafficking and militancy in the Niger Delta, Governor Oshiomhole says a lot has to be done by government, corporate institution and well meaning individuals to improve social conditions in the country.
He said that at the heart of child trafficking and militancy in the Niger Delta are poverty and joblessness, which informs his policy trust of job creation. The governor has since created over 70,000 jobs to teeming youths under the Edo Youth Scheme (YES).
Responding, Lingarde says, ‘‘we have had dialogue with the Chairman of Electoral Reform Committee, Justice Muhammadu Uwais because we belief in free and fair election in Nigeria. We also had useful meetings with people of Niger Delta as part of the Amnesty Campaign as much as the issue of child trafficking”.
The Ambassador who was accompanied by Maj-Inger Klingvall, senior advisor, African Department thanked the state government for facilitating the cultural exhibition hosted recently in the Swedish capital, Stockholm where Edo State representatives did Nigerians and Africans proud.
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