Former President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday described the signals from Bayelsa and Kogi states as disturbing, insisting that only electronic voting process could stop thuggery, violence during elections in Nigeria.
Speaking thursday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State during the presentation of a book authored by a former deputy governor of the state, Sir Gabriel Toby, entitled ‘In the Cause of Service: Memoir of Gabriel Tamunobiebere George Toby,’ the former president lamented that people were already being killed in the two states when the governorship elections had not begun.
He insisted that the only to end the ugly trend was electronic voting.
Jonathan argued that electronic voting would work in Nigeria, noting that several Nigerians transferred billions of dollars from one bank to the other through electronic means.
“Look at what is happening now; we have governorship elections in two states in Kogi and Bayelsa. The signals coming from both are quite disturbing.
“The use of thugs, shooting guns and our people are already being killed when the voting process has not even started is disturbing. This would not happen if we have got to a point in this country where voter card matters.
“That is why I have always advocated electronic voting. We must go into electronic voting. If people these days can transfer billions of dollars from one bank to the other, using electronic means, then I believe that we can do electronic voting perfectly and that will ensure that the use of thugs during elections would not come up again.”
Jonathan further noted that political offices in the country did not change their holders, rather, the people with low integrity were being voted into offices.
According to him, when the country developed to a point where voter card mattered, politicians would mend their ways.
“My opinion is that people don’t change when they get into political office; we vote people that we don’t know into offices and it is difficult to know the true character of a person; it is hard to understand, but the fact is we don’t really vote people we know. People tend to use different means to get into office.
“When we develop as a nation to the point where our voter cards matter, where the people can vote, who they believe in, the behaviour of the politicians would change; politicians would stop recruiting group of boys and feeding them like dogs, calling them thugs to be used for elections while their children attend the best universities abroad,” he explained.
THISDAY