Don't help politicians to rig, Oshiomhole tells NYSC members

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has advised Youth Corps members, who would work as ad-hoc staff, in the 2015 general election, to shun politicians’ advances to rig the elections.

He gave the advice on Wednesday, at the opening of the National Youth Ser­vice Corps (NYSC) Annual Management Conference, in Benin City.

He said: “This is easily the toughest election Ni­geria will have in 16 years, and NYSC is providing the bulk of the presiding of­ficers and polling unit of­ficers at critical levels in the electioneering system. I want to appeal to Corpers that they must refuse to be compromised by very des­perate politicians.

“We have a political class who, if they have the opportunity, will even bribe God that they go to Heaven, even if they are actually candidates for hell.

“What is at stake is their future, their place on this continent and on this planet. Every day that is mismanaged, is an oppor­tunity lost. Therefore, re­gardless of the intentions of those seeking power, the Corpers must understand that their own future can­not be compared to N 5,000, N10, 000 or N20, 000.

“The good news is that the Corpers have been playing this role and there is no evidence that they have been a problem. Even where elections were al­legedly rigged or actually rigged, from the proceed­ings in the court, that rig­ging wasn’t done by Cor­pers and, therefore, the Corpers have been playing their roles as true Nige­rians, who believe in the unity of our country.

“As young men, they should be more idealistic, which means they should see things done perfectly and with all the innova­tion that the Independent National Electoral Elec­tion (INEC) promises to introduce including the Card Reader. I expect that this election would be much freer than the previ­ous ones.”

Furthermore, Oshiom­hole said: “I remain a firm believer that our country is greater than any of us. Whatever we do, Presi­dents will come and go, Governors will come and go and Local Government Chairmen will come and go and as I told the GOC 2 Mechanised Division, sometime ago, even mili­tary leaders will come and go. What is permanent is the institution of the Presidency, of the Gover­norship and of the Armed Forces.”