Senator Tony Nwoye has accused his colleagues and the leadership of the Nigerian Senate of distorting facts about the June 12, 1993, elections presided over by the late Humphrey Nwosu.
Nwoye, the lawmaker representing Anambra North Senatorial District alleged that some of his colleagues were distorting facts about the election – which has been described as the freest and most credible poll in the history of Nigeria – because Nwosu is an Igbo man.
Speaking during the debate on a motion seeking the immortalisation of Nwosu, a former chairman of the defunct National Electoral Commission, Nwoye urged the leadership of the Senate to desist from making decisions based on the bias of a few lawmakers.
He said, “The appeal I am making is that we should not allow our personal biases or personal sentiment and our party affiliations to influence what we are doing here.
“So far as I am concerned, during the June 12 presidential election, I was a presiding officer, Yes, I had just come out of secondary school and I was the presiding officer in that election,” Nwoye said.
Also reminding his colleagues that the 1993 elections have remained Nigeria’s most credible election despite the challenges of threat and attack faced by the electoral umpire at the time, Nwoye said it is important for the National Assembly to do the needful on behalf of the late Nwosu.
“That election has been adjudged, up till today as the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria.
“Mr President, any Nigerian that googles internet “which election is the freest and fairest election in Nigeria”? It is the June 12 presidential election.
“Professor Humphrey Nwosu, a professor of political science from the prestigious University of Nigeria, a civil servant before he was appointed in 1989, did his best despite the pressure from Babangida’s government,” he said.
Nwoye stated that it is important for all to remember that Nwosu, irrespective of a court order which stopped the election and the threats from the military cabal went ahead to conduct and delivered to the people, the ‘freest and fairest’ election in Nigeria.
Continuing, Nwoye asked, “Was it Professor Humphrey Nwosu that made Saleh from Katangum Emirate to annul the election, was it Professor Humphrey Nwosu that made the military cabal to throw Nigeria into confusion?
“It is highly unfair, one of my colleagues mentioned the honour given to late professor Ogbonnaya Onu. Is it because he belongs to a particular political party? Let us not distort facts. It is very disappointing that some of us will be distorting facts just because Professor Humphrey Nwosu is Igbo man,” Nwoye concluded.
