The Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole has said that Nigeria cannot immortalise the late chairman of the defunct National Electoral Commission (NEC), Humphrey Nwosu.
Speaking during a Senate debate on the motion sponsored by Enyinnaya Abaribe for the immortalisation of the late Nwosu, the Edo lawmaker said Nwosu failed to confess to the atrocities and events that went wrong during the June 12, 1993, presidential election which he presided over.
According to Oshiomhole, Nwosu and the then military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida (retired) deceived 18 million Nigerians who lined up to vote for a democratically elected government in 1993.
His words, “Prof. Nwosu and IBB fooled 18 million Nigerians that voted. Therefore, if he was afraid of the gun because we were under a dictatorship, Some people might say, well…. but there were Nigerians who were protesting under the gun without minding the consequences.”
Speaking further, Oshiomhole said after the military regime, Nigeria has enjoyed a democratic process since 1999, and the late NEC chairman failed to speak up.
He said, “After the end of Babangida’s tenure, the death of Abiola, the birth of the new democracy that produce President Obasanjo, since then, I would have expected Nwosu to be able to say, either on his birthday or any occasion: “now that we are about democracy and there is freedom of speech – even the freedom to lie.
“I would have expected Nwosu to say, “I couldn’t display these numbers now in my record; Abiola won this election, but I’m not able to announce it.’ He died without confessing, and he cannot be rewarded,” Oshiomhole added.
