PANKSHIN (PLATEAU) – Mr Emmanuel Hemba, lecturer with the Federal College of Education (FCE) Pankshin, Plateau, has called on politicians to shun personal greed for the nation’s interest in the forthcoming elections.
Hemba, who is Chairman of the Colleges Academic Staff Unioin (COEASU), told newsmen in Pankshin that politicians held the key to the nation’s peace if they shunned personal greed.
He expressed worry that the utterances of some politicians, in their quest for elective positions, had often thrown up violence in the polity.
The COEASU chairman said that a peaceful conduct of the polls was possible if politicians would avoid manipulating the polls, contrary to INEC guidelines.
“The road map to a smooth and peaceful transition in Nigeria is the conduct of a free and fair election, obtainable through positive attitudes.
“Politics in Nigeria is an industry where the players are all after one and the same thing, which is gain, and not the interest of the masses or the nation.
“Once the nation’s interest is placed above personal gain, you will see that things will go smoothly and peacefully rather than the do-or- die affair we witness in the politics of today,“ he said.
He advised politicians to see the growth and development of the nation as paramount to any of their ambition for which ever elective position.
“From the way some of our politicians are going about their campaigns, we need the grace of God for Nigeria to have a smooth and peaceful transition that will give us a new government on May 29, “ he noted.
“Nigeria belongs to all us and we must, as citizens, rise to the challenge to ensure that nothing scuttles the forthcoming general elections,“ he said.