Following the conduct of last week’s Presidential and National Assembly elections, Nigerians from all walks of life have expressed their opinion over the election.
According to Ajayi Olupono, it is sad and worrisome that the election claimed so many lives and lamented the decision of the president to issue a death threat against electoral offenders.
“People like me had cried out after the president of the federation, berated and discarded our existing laws by ordering soldiers, policemen and other security agents to keep shooting criminals at sight without any minimum regard or consideration for the millions of easy-going citizens that would certainly be trooping to those polling stations merely to vote and nothing more’
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He, however, called for electoral offenders to be dealt with within the ambits of the law.
‘Mind you only bandits, criminals snatch ballot boxes and as such must be severely dealt with within the limits of our laws in that country. Honestly, if our congressmen and women propose death sentence as punishment for armed ballot snatchers I would be the first to support the bill” he wrote
On his part, Daddy Don K was full of praise for the electorate for finally realising the power they wield over politicians.
“It seems the Nigerian electorates are finally waking up from a deep slumber to realize the enormous power they wield over these useless politicians. This new electoral maturity should however not be left for elections alone. Nigerians should be sensitized on other ways they can effectively control their representatives wherever they are sent. Nigerians should know they can also petition INEC for a referendum which enables them to recall their senators and reps when they do not represent them properly. This power can also be used at the state level to compel the reps to check the governors by removing reps who would not be willing to impeach a recalcitrant governor. Nigerians should understudy the America system of punishing politicians and gain maturity in applying this to our political system. If they do not perform, vote them out, or remove them by impeachment, recall or civil disobedience. It is time, we demand what was promised when we vote or if they fail to deliver, we kick them out” he wrote.
