Former National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South West, Dr Eddy Olafeso, on Monday, hailed the Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, for his display of sportsmanship in the last Saturday local government election in the state.
Olafeso who stated this in Akure while assessing the result of the local government election in the state said el-Rufai provided a level playing ground for all political parties that participated in the election.
Hailing the victory of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defeating the governor in his polling unit and ward, Olafeso said the victory of the opposition party was a gradual reflection of a change in the democratic parlance of the country.
Olafeso noted that the victory of the PDP at the El-Rufai’s polling unit and the ward is a big political statement from the people to the ruling party and governor, signifying the end of APC rule in the country.
He said the Kaduna State governor, El-Rufai, lived to his promise of not tampering with the electoral process, with a pledge not to behave like other political parties but promised to allow the people of the state to elect who they want without any fear or hindrance.
He called on other governors from every political party in the country to emulate el-Rufai by allowing people to voluntarily elect their leaders without any fear
Olafeso said “While we celebrate our victory in Kaduna State, especially at the ward of the Kaduna State governor, we should equally congratulate el-Rufai for his trailblazing attitude towards democracy and we want to advise all the governors from APC, PDP and APGA and any party to emulate what el-Rufai has done.
“Part of the problem of democracy is not allowing the people to make their choices, what el-Rufai did in Kaduna is of national significance, we must try as much as possible to allow people to vote the way they want to.
“This is the reason I am leading this voice to congratulate el-Rufai for being a democrat he has promised himself to be, not minding the criticism from his party, when the party is not doing well and standing up for whatever he believes in. To me, even the PDP governors should try as much as possible to emulate this.
“Local governments election is always considered lunch for governors, but it is part of the basement of democracy because that’s the third tiers of government, the most important and the closest to the grassroots, so those paying lips service to democracy out there should do something that people can note that it is of significance like el-Rufai did.”
Olafeso, however, advocated that the Independent National Electoral Commission should be allowed to conduct local government council elections to make the election credible and expressed confidence that it would revive governance at the grassroots level.
He said, “If independently done and there’s neutrality, then I believe that INEC should be the one to conduct local government elections, but if the appointment of those that are going to control the state electoral activities are going to be nominated independently, I don’t know how the process would to be, then we can begin to try that.
“But to me, INEC stands a better position to be an independent neutral person to conduct the election in which all the stakeholders are involved, even if the state is controlled by APC, the party will thinker with it, just that el-Rufai choose to be different if it’s PDP I had no doubt that our governors will also try to do something like that.”
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