'Nigerians know that Rivers state people did not vote in the previous general elections'

yinka ogunlami

December 31, 2015 10:53 PM

He also condemned corrupt leaders who choose to convert funds instead of making them available for the benefit of others.

Magnus Abe

At a meeting with the National Union of Rivers State Students (NURSS), led by its president, Comrade Vincent Dan-Jumbo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Rivers South East senatorial district, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, has stated that Nigerians are aware of the fact that the people of Rivers State did not vote during the 2015 general elections.

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Quoting the former senator, “I want to encourage you all, there will be election in Rivers State. Everybody in Nigeria knows that we have not voted and our votes have not been counted. We are not just saying that we must be the ones in position, we are saying that people, like other people in Nigeria, should be given an opportunity to make an input into who holds what position.

“As long as elections are credible, anybody can be elected. I personally will congratulate anybody who is freely and fairly elected in any contest, because for me, and a lot of us, it is not a do-or-die affair. Politics is a game; it is about trying to make your contributions. It is about trying to extract advantages that you can from the system in order to build on the things that you believe in.”

He also condemned corrupt leaders who choose to convert funds instead of making them available for the benefit of others. In his words, “Anybody who is in a position to contribute to the happiness of others, anybody who is in a position to contribute to the improvement of life for other people and will choose to steal the joy of others, will choose to steal education from others, will choose to take from people things that are irreplaceable, that person is worse than a thief.

“In a lot of ways, so many of us who are in positions of leadership, in the things that we do, we don’t realise that what we do is worse than stealing, because you are destroying things that are irreplaceable.”

yinka ogunlami