By Victor Ahiuma-Young
LAGOS — GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, weekend, in Lagos, called on Nigerians to revolt against the new Electoral Act if the nation must have a free and fair elections, saying the promoters of the new Electoral Act had already programmed the 2011 elections to fail.

The Edo State governor lamented that all the parameters for rigging were already on ground, noting that elections rigging are done only on the day of the voting, and declared: “Statistical evaluation shows that democracy is not working for Nigeria.”

Oshiomhole particularly picked hole in the order of election legislated upon by the National Assembly which stipulate that the Presidential election should hold first before others, arguing that Nigeria, being what it is, would have a bandwagon effect once a party wins the Presidential election. Statistical evaluation shows that democracy is not working for Nigeria.

The Edo State Governor who spoke at a symposium organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to mark the 70th birthday anniversary of its pioneer President, Alhaji Hassan Sunmonu, said it was the responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to determine the order of election.

Oshiomhole, who is the immediate past President of NLC, contended that by legislating on the order of elections, the National Assembly had made nonsense of the so-called independence of electoral umpire and urged of Nigerians who wanted free and fair election to rise up against the new Electoral Act.

He called on labour to play an active role in driving the process of change in the governance of the country because “if we don’t get Nigeria right, wages will not be appropriate. Active participation of labour in governance is crucial in shaping the destiny of the nation.”

According to him, “the legislature lack the power to decide for INEC which election should hold first, noting that the purpose of amending the constitutions was to create another opportunity to manipulate elections. If we don’t get Nigeria right, wages will not be appropriate. We must reject any attempt by anyone using the legislative power to undermine the independent of INEC.

If INEC cannot formulate rules on the order of election, if INEC cannot decide by itself which election to conduct first, then we should begin to ask where then is the independent of INEC.”

My resolve is that this year, it is either we make it as a people or not. We must play our part in our various constituencies and struggle for a unique change. Labour will not only create wealth, labour will control wealth.”

Continuing, the Edo state governor faulted the various policy initiatives of government which he said had increased the level of poverty and made the citizenry worst off over the years and urged labour to begin to organise themselves for change,  arguing that resolutions and lamentation cannot produce the desired result needed to take the nation to greater level.

The former President of NLC advised labour to see the forth coming election as an opportunity to advocate for electoral justice and ensure that those who have no plan to rebuild the country are not given the mandate to rule again.

He said: “The resolutions we make as trade unions will not change Nigeria because the forces responsible for our underdevelopment, growing culture of impunity will not disappear when we lament. Resolutions don’t work, what work is when we men and women rise up to say no to corruption. Nigeria is bleeding by the minute. We not know how much oil we export.

We try to cheat on each other on what has been stolen from us by our leaders. Today the country is rich but the citizenry are getting poorer by the day. Statistical evaluation shows that democracy is not working for Nigeria. Government has formulated all kind of policies that lack internal coherence. We are celebrating the importation of toothpick but saying that we want to create jobs. It is time for Nigerians to say enough is enough and rise up to fight.

This country is being manipulated by those who have little or no plan to rebuild our land. Therefore we must all work and ensure that the country changes for the better. There is no better time than now to rise up for change.”
He also advised the NLC to monitor closely the activities of its affiliates across the country noting that often time, the affiliates are under the control of some conservative state governors.

“The battle for a statutory minimum wage can be traced to Sunmonu as it was established by him. But today the society has changes and many things are changing. Labour must be political and also be partisan. Today, many businesses are using their resources to openly back political parties. Labour is often time under the control of governors in some states.

Many labour leaders are identifying with the most conservative governors who probably have bought cars and allocated land for them to build their labour centres.

“NLC has a stake to ensure that the affiliates abide by the labour law of defending the rights of workers. They must stop lamenting and start organizing their members,” he added.