Senator Adams Oshiomhole has urged lawmakers to stop arming youths and rigging elections, warning that such acts undermine Nigeria’s democracy and fuel post-election violence.

During a Senate debate on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which passed its second reading on Wednesday, the Senator representing Edo North called for political reform and accountability among elected officials.

“As elected persons, we as senators should not, directly or indirectly, secretly or openly, aid and abet unemployed or semi-employed people and arm them to disrupt elections,” Oshiomhole said. “If we reform our character, this problem is 90% solved. In a just answer, I launched one man, one vote, one woman, one vote.”

Addressing Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Oshiomhole linked the practice of arming political thugs to rising insecurity, stressing that poor political conduct lies at the root of the problem.

“After every election, violent crimes increase,” he said. “Because the politicians who have procured weapons for children who are hungry and pay them a little fee, once the election is over, they are not able to retrieve the weapons. And the weapons are then deployed by these people for violence.”

He further explained that genuine democracy must be anchored on free will, not manipulation or violence.

“The beauty of democracy is not the fact that you find yourself occupying an important elective office,” he noted. “It is the feeling in your heart that people actually, in their free will, found you worthy to be their voice and to entrust our collective patrimony in your hands to manage to deliver the greatest good to the greatest number.”

According to Oshiomhole, electoral integrity depends on personal integrity. “If you achieve it by true rigging or other manipulation, deep in your heart, you know that you are not a happy person,” he said.

The Senator insisted that reforming politicians’ character was key to addressing 90 percent of Nigeria’s electoral problems. “It is now possible to do election without cutting their bodies,” he added. “It wasn’t so before, because we convince everybody that there is no merit in taking election or conducting election as if it is a state of war.”

The Electoral Act Amendment Bill now moves to the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters for further review, ahead of the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states. (Arise News)