Oshiomhole calls for removal of fraudulent RECs

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has called for the removal of fraudulent Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).

He spoke at the 10th delegates’ conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Oshiomhole also said NLC is not vibrant.

He said: “To ask a brand new Prof. Attahiru Jega to head a house where the old cockroaches of rigging are present is not good enough. A lot of those fraudulent electoral commissioners who presided over fraudulent elections that were nullified by courts of law, upheld by the Court of Appeal must go. Everybody says one man, one vote, but they must watch their language.

“Anytime they say capture, that is a language of riggers.

“We are going to capture, that is not the language of one-man-one-vote. Capture

can only be done by rigging. Such RECs are wreckers, they cannot be allowed to continue to wreck the system. Jega will need more than two eyes and two ears to monitor these seasoned riggers, and most of them are members of the ruling

party. Jega must know this. He must watch them. Whatever comes out of this at the end of the day will be the result of your planning. I believe it is a mistake to leave those riggers, certified by court of law in the system. It is now the burden of the president and of course the responsibility of Comrade Jega to ensure their character. If they don’t conform with the norms, Cairo is not far from Abuja, Tripoli is not far from Abuja.

Speaking at the event Jega said an impartial electoral commission is the answer to credible polls.

He said: “We want to do our best to ensure that the current independent electoral commission is impartial, is non-partisan, and create a level playing field for everybody. We will also ensure that everybody does the right thing. We will obey the law. We will work within the legal framework and we will ensure that every participant and contestant do so, if we believe in the foundation of beginning to get things right in our country, and we are committed to that.

“We will never do anything, given our role and antecedent in the labour movement to make you feel ashamed of what we do, we will always do our best to make you proud of what we do for our country. And please continue to give us your best and your best to your country.

“I want to assure you that we, at the Independent National Electoral Commission, are doing our best, to use this opportunity to do the right things and to ensure that we create an upward framework to prepare credible elections.

“It is not easy. It has never been easy. It is a struggle. It is a continuous struggle. It is indeed a perpetual struggle. So the struggle continues, but we must struggle and we must keep on improving our democratic parties and our electoral processes,” Jega said.