The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ondo State, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, has advised Nigerian politicians against being desperate while seeking elective offices.
Agbaje said this in Osogbo on Thursday at the launch of two books titled, “Secrets of Winning Elections” and “Key to Business Success,” written by a former Director of Field Services of INEC, Dr. Jimoh Agboola.
The REC, who was represented by Mr. Obi Nduka, said that it was regrettable that most politicians in the country were always desperate to win election even when they knew clearly that they lacked the support of the majority of the electorate.
He said, “The INEC is on the march again to record another success. We require the cooperation of everybody because it is a collective action. Politics should not be seen as a do-or-die affair.
“We should see it as a sport and anybody who loses should embrace the winner and the winner must also not see himself as better than everybody. Somebody must win and others will lose in any election. Those who lose should re-contest and they may be lucky next time.”
Agbaje said that INEC was transparent while assuring Nigerians of the readiness of the commission to ensure that the February general election would become the best in the history of the country.
The author said that many politicians erroneously believed that they could win elections with money but he said that most of them had been proved wrong by the voters.
Agboola added that politicians needed to know their people very well and must be able to mobilise them to register and vote on election date.
He decried the use of violence by some politicians but said that any politician who loved his people would not engage in violence.
According to him, the nation has lost many promising youths to electoral violence while advising the electorate against supporting violent politicians.
Agboola said, “Our polity needs to be directed by well-informed politicians so that the nation can grow on all fronts. Many dabble into politics without knowing the things they ought to know.”
The Vice Chancellor of Osun State University, Prof. Bashir Okesina, who was represented by Dr. Bolaji Omitola, lauded the author for writing the books.
He urged the nation’s youths, who he said, were always manipulated by unscrupulous politicians to cause crisis, to empower themselves economically to enable them to make sound decisions during elections.
He said, “The youths need to read the ‘Key to Business Success’ to be empowered. When they are empowered, they won’t be available to be used by politicians to cause violence.”