Mike Igini, former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Akwa Ibom State, has expressed shock over the level of ethnic profiling that happened in Lagos during the recently concluded elections.
Igini who spoke while appearing on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Friday, noted that his family has been in Lagos since 1950s, yet suffered ethnic profiling during the election.
“I am shocked at the shameful behaviour of our politicians,” he said. “My family has been in Lagos since the 1950’s, yet there was ethnic profiling. My cousin who is married to an Abeokuta woman was almost beaten up while trying to vote. My sister is married to a Yoruba man.”
Igini who decried the disregard for electoral guidelines during the elections, reminded Nigerians that it is the responsibility of citizens to make the country work.
Igini who charged the judiciary to reflect on why people who violate the law confidently tell their opponents to go to court, which he said reflects poorly on our judicial system, noted that the judiciary must be mindful of its place, particularly in the practice of democracy.
He noted that that although the United Kingdom taught Nigeria election rigging, the country’s judiciary has since ensured that the law is upheld, which has discouraged vote rigging.
He said, ”What I want Nigerians to know is that whatever we make of this country, that is what it will become. It is clearly in our hands because, in this country, Nigeria, with all the human and material resources, all that’s required is leadership.
”Today, we are now in Court over the election that has been conducted. It should be noted that the United Kingdom, UK, that today is one of the countries that our people are going to; in short, after Nigeria, they go to the UK. It should be noted that even the UK, which introduced Nigeria to election rigging for a period of 99 years, almost a hundred years, had no post-election adjudication in the United Kingdom.”
