Senator Iyiola Omisore, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Osun State, has said the sharing of money to prospective voters on election day is an embarrassment to Nigeria’s democratic process.
Omisore, who spoke in Abuja on Monday when he collected his certificate of return at the SDP national secretariat, said that he would defeat those relying on money politics at the September 22, 2018 governorship election.
When asked what he would do during the election in view of the allegations that the PDP and the APC might have prepared to share huge amount of money, the lawmaker vowed not to copy them.
“Of course, like you said, sharing money is a malice. It is condemned. The major issue now is, will that be a basis for election winning? Can that be yardstick for good governance? Will that be the reigns of reality in this country? Will there be contentions of politicians? Will that be the reality of the voters too? These are the questions we have to ask ourselves.
“For the fact that 1,000 people are going to do evil, is it compelling on me or you to follow people to do evil? That question, you have to ponder over it. Must I now follow the same route of this malady? Like we said now, people are trying to use poverty of the land to extort people. I heard in one of the analysis that someone that was given N2,000 on election day in Ekiti State for government of four years. That means, per day, they have sold their rights for 16 kobo. That is the analysis. Even if you understand them, they have sold their lives for 16 kobo per day and what will 16 kobo do for us in this country.
“And the cultural issue of this country is what all of us must rise against. It is unfortunate that it is really becoming normalcy. Things that are not supposed to be seen or being taken are now the issue of discourse. I don’t want to be discussing issues of sharing moneyon the day of election because it is an embarrassment to this country and this modern day democracy. But I can assure you today and you can go and write it down, we will not join them in sharing money during the next election because Osun populace know the calibre and quality of the candidate of SDP. Without sounding immodest, the gravitas of candidate of SDP in Osun State is more than 95% of any other candidates in that State,” Omisore stated.
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