As Nigerians gear up for the 2023 polls, a Labour Party, PL, Chieftain and founder of One Love Foundation, OLF, Chief Patrick Eholor, Monday, declared it will be hard for politicians to hire university students as political thugs to disrupt the elections.Eholor made the assertion while speaking about the temporal closure of tertiary institutions to enable students also exercise their franchise as they remain a critical mass in the electoral process.
He said: “It is a welcome development for the Federal Government to close all tertiary institutions for the general election, it allows the youth and students, in general, to participate in the general election and also it protect our students and youth from any further violence that may emerge from the general election.“Our students are now wiser than before, politicians will find it hard to hire students as political thugs as most of the students are more political inclined and wouldn’t want to take chances to be used as political thugs.”Also being the Director of Contact and Mobilization in the Diaspora Committee of Labour Party, he advised students ahead of the elections to avoid any form of enticement to become thugs for unscrupulous politicians“My advice to students is for them to vote wisely and they should stay away from being used as political thugs during and after the election, they should always ensure that they are in safe areas and be conscious of their environment before and after voting”, he said.However, he condemned attacks his party’s supporters and members had come under in recent days while on campaigns in parts of the country, and called on security agencies to ensure full security cover for them.
Labour Party has called all security agencies to notify them about the recent attack on our supporters and by extension also written to INEC to notify them about the incident, but none has so far been responded to.“In this political dispensation era one may wonder if Nigeria is ready to host a free, fair and credible election.“I cannot imagine that in this era, opposition parties will sponsor thugs to attack the Labour Party during campaigns and the security agencies would not find the culprits, it is not done anywhere in developed countries, and it is politically accepted.Meanwhile, he also expressed doubt the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will conduct free and fair elections.“Never in the world has elections been free and fair, so I don’t expect Nigeria’s case to be different as we are yet to develop. I can only expect the election to be fair and not free of violence”.
