If anyone can buy you, they can also sell you, Professor Oba Shuaibu AbdulRaheem, the New Nigeria People’s Party’s (NNPP) governorship candidate in Kwara, has urged the people.
Mr. Oba recommended people vote morally even if someone offered them money or other material goods.
The appeal was made by Mr. Oba during a Wednesday interview in Ilorin.
He clarified that voter selling and buying were two-way transactions, and none of them could be referred to as patriots.
“Some politicians hold the view that the only way to gain power is to bribe citizens with immoral and illegal funds.
“We have very limited options for action. There must be a seller if there is a buyer.
“The only thing we can do is appeal to our people so they understand that anyone who can purchase you can also sell you. It is the rule of nature.
He warned that if you sell your vote, you are selling both your future and the future of your children.
Another piece of advice from Mr. Oba, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin, was to vote morally even if someone offered money or other material goods.
He asked people to vote for their consciences and their children’s tomorrow.
Although vote sellers may be discouraged from selling their votes since they are aware that they are selling the future of their children, the governorship contender said that vote purchaser would not stop.
“If someone pays you N5,000 to cast a single vote, they have seized your wage for the next five years,” the saying goes.
“Because you already took your part, whoever gave you that money will not be liable for your welfare in the future.
You won’t be his top priority when he becomes president because, whatever he got his money, he will have to pay it back.
But, Mr. Oba asserted that the only option to improve the current state of affairs was to elect a party with integrity and a good strategy for the populace instead of a bad government.
“We have done it previously and have never been found wanting for anything, vote NNPP and the state will be a better place,” he counseled the electorate.