BY ABBANOBI – EKU ONYEKA ABUJA
Ahead of the upcoming guber and state assembly elections on Saturday the 18th day of March 2023, as well as for the country to move forward democratically, a former Minister of Education, Prof Ihechuchukwu Madubuike has charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to not only tender apologies to Nigerians for having failed them at the recently conducted presidential and national assembly elections, but also urged the umpire to as a matter of integrity snd seriousness promise Nigerians that it will not do such thing again.
He said: “They have to do the right thing; the promise they made, they have to fulfill it and rescue themselves; apologize to Nigerians that they made a mistake and that they won’t repeat it again and show it by action, which speaks louder than words.,”
Madubuike further enjoined them to desist from what he described as disappointment and charade, in the name of the election, even as he urged the umpire to live up to its promises at the upcoming elections.
Madubuike charged the umpire to that effect at a telephone interview he granted our correspondent Wednesday in Abuja.
Making more points, this erudite professor said that the umpire didn’t live up to its promises during the recently conducted presidential and national assembly elections, even as he enjoined them to be serious and do the needful in the upcoming elections on Saturday.
Describing the performance of the umpire as a letdown, he said: “The letdown was that there were so many promises and expectations and at the end, no delivery.”
When pressed further, he said that he would have given advice to the umpire, but regretted that it would be a waste of time to give advice to those who don’t listen to one. “Giving advice to the INEC, I think that will be a waste of time because they have already made up their minds They are adults and you don’t need to advise them. Advising adult who is not ready to listen to you is a waste of time and energy because they know what to do,” he stated.
In an advice to the electorates in the states where the guber elections will hold, he told them to come out en mass and cast their votes for the candidates of their choice, even as he advised them to ensure that nobody comes there to hinder them from conducting their civic rights in line with the law.
Responding to another question if he thinks that the umpire would deliver at the guber and state assembly elections, Prof Ihechuchukwu Madubuike however said that INEC had already made up their mind on what to do, just as he said that he was only talking as an elder statesman who wouldn’t be there watching wrong things happen.
Prof Madubuike
