Ex-Deputy Senate President Condemns Attacks on INEC’s Offices

Ex-Deputy Senate President Condemns Attacks on INEC’s Offices

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

A former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, has condemned the attacks on the Abia and Plateau States’ offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying the act should be condemned by all Nigerians.

Mantu, while speaking at a book launch yesterday in Abuja titled: “The Legacy of Atiku Abubakar on Nation Building,” written by Chukwudi Omordi Eke, said 20 years after the country returned to democratic culture and principles, democratic ideals have not been deepened.

“Every Nigerian citizen should be worried about things that are happening unlawfully. Any bad thing that is bad should be condemned by everybody; it doesn’t matter which party you belong to. Are you happy that INEC office was burnt? The answer is no, we should all condemn it.”

Mantu added that the time has come to move Nigeria forward, saying that Nigeria cannot move forward if people refused to do things as stated by the constitution.

“For a long time we have had uninterrupted democratic rule from 1999 to 2019, that’s twenty good years. One would have expected that democratic culture and practices would have been deepened by now and that the way we do things would have been the way it is being done in advanced countries.”

“But unfortunately, I’m sad to say that we have not captured the basic principles of democratic practice. In other words internal party democracy is the beginning of getting things right. If party officials are elected in a free, fair, transparent congresses and conventions, the likelihood of such people emerging through such process to govern the party with fear of God and transparently will also be expected.

“But when party chieftains emerge through crooked ways, through dubious manipulations, they are not likely to rule the party with transparency. That is one of the things that as a politicians I’m not happy about.”

On his part, the author described the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar as an exemplary leader.

According to him, “What really inspired me, most of all is his capacity to create jobs. In the course of my research, I found many things interesting about this great leader. He is a great leader and I found out that at the age of 15, he was not only able to create job for himself, he created jobs for people.”

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