By Luminous Jannamike
ABUJA – Rev. Fr. George Ehusani, Chaplain of Lux Terra Leadership Foundation Abuja, has advised Nigerians to shun any form of inducement to sell their votes to desperate politicians during the 2019 general elections.
Ehusani, a former Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, made the call on Tuesday in Abuja.
The cleric, who described vote-buying as an attempt to change a dishonest and corrupt system through corrupt means, stressed the need for the electorates to question the competence and antecedents of the candidates running for political offices before making the choice of whom to vote.
He said: “Let them (electorates) not take what they are given (inducements), so that the corrupt politician holds his cash and doesn’t find someone to collect it.
“Anyone who is desperate to lead should not be allowed to get into positions of power, because if you want to serve, you shouldn’t be too desperate. You should give us the freedom to elect you freely.
“Let the politician show us what he can do to take us out of the present mess; show us his antecedents; show us the kind of people he has been able to muster around him; and demonstrate sincerity of purpose.”
Speaking further, Ehusani blamed the elites for the high levels of ignorance, superstition and poverty in Nigeria which, he said, contributes largely to the absence of good governance in the country.
According to him, the political class failed to sufficiently enlighten the masses to grasp the basic issues affecting the nation so that they can be equipped to make the right demands from government.
He therefore said for the nation to make any progress, the civil society needs to work towards tearing apart the ‘veil of ignorance’ that has separated the people from their government.
“We need a civil society of a coalition of civil societies that not only monitor elections but actually goes out to train people and help them to understand the issues that make for good democratic governance,” he stressed.
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