Tajudeen Yusuf, a member of the house of representatives
from Kogi state, says the European Union (EU) and UK should take their cue from
the US and impose visa restrictions on riggers of elections in Nigeria.
On Monday, the US imposed visa restrictions on some
individuals for their actions during the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship
elections.
The identities of those affected by the ban are not yet
known.
In a statement on Thursday, Yusuf who represents
Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency in the lower legislative chamber, said
there must not be a repeat of what happened at the Osun governorship poll
“where they casually engineered an inconclusive election to manipulate and win
through the back door”.
The legislator said in five years, the country has witnessed
22 inconclusive elections under the All Progressives Congress (APC) as against
the 16-year period of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when the country only
witnessed one inconclusive poll.
“PDP members are joining Edo state people and all true
democrats across Nigeria to call upon the United States, the EU, UK and all
other countries to insist that there must be no repeat of the APC’s trick in
Osun state where they casually engineered an ‘inconclusive election’ to
manipulate and win through the back door,” he said.
“We shall continue to commend the USA for wielding the big
stick against those who played inglorious, despicable roles in the violent rape
of democracy during Kogi state’s last governorship elections; replication of
such visa ban by the EU, UK and other developed countries will tame APC
leaders’ penchant for foreign trips and further reassure Nigerian democrats.
“It is curious and alarming to hear that this government
consistently rewards those who unashamedly subvert the people’s will during the
electioneering process; for instance, a top INEC official who perpetrated
ungodly roles in the 2019 Kano state elections was rewarded with more sensitive
responsibilities, posted to Kogi state where further compromise was glaring and
now, this same person has been posted to Edo state for next Saturday’s
governorship election!
“It is historically regrettable for the nation that those
who came to power professing positive change and progressive democracy have
instead brought unprecedented nepotism, worsened insecurity, economic misery,
high unemployment and grand schemes to thwart democracy through various means,
including ‘inconclusive election’.
“All through the PDP years from May 1999 to May 2015, only
one inconclusive election was recorded but sadly just between May 2015 and now,
the APC leadership has given Nigeria twenty-two inconclusive elections, with
clear suspicions of its inclination towards having more of such anti-democratic
accomplishments.”
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