Stop being bad losers, Ajimobi, Olurode charge politicians

The Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, and a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Lai Olurode, have advised politicians against being bad losers and to purge themselves of what they called ‘electoral illiteracy.’

They spoke during the presentation of certificates of returns to the winners of the March 28 National Assembly and Governorship election, at the Banquet Hall of the Premier Hotel, Ibadan, on Friday.
In a short remark after collecting his certificate of return, the governor cautioned politicians against taking electoral loss with bitterness, stressing that electoral process must produce winners and losers as in every contest.

Dedicating his victory to God and the people of the state, Ajimobi acknowledged how thousands of voters defied inclement weather condition by trooping out to exercise their franchise during the general election.

The governor said, “This election is the most credible, freest and fairest in the history of election in Nigeria. We cannot complete this debt of gratitude without acknowledging our fellow contestants who ran the 2015 elections race with us. The contests were keen, the race was swift but no one’s head was bruised at the end of this brotherly struggle for power.

“No one is the loser at the end of the day. As the cliché goes, there was no victor, no vanquished at the end of it all. The people of Oyo State, indeed democracy, are the winner as the electoral contest deepened our democratic space and strengthened democratic discourse.

“As it is in any human race, different crowns await every runner. Let us be robust sportsmen who receive victory with sober reflection and take losses without bitterness but with stoic surrender to the will of the people and the voice of Almighty.
 
“But I must advise that we should not be sore losers. Don’t let us take loses with bitterness, but with stoic surrender to the will of God. I also want to corroborate the position of Prof. Lai Olurode that we should purge ourselves of electoral illiteracy. Don’t let us resort to self help and acrimony.”

Ajimobi invited other governorship candidates to join him in his quest to further develop Oyo State, noting that the combination of attributes possessed by each candidate would be useful for the development of the state.

Olurode said, “In Oyo State, the hue and cry that greeted the posting of Ambassador Rufus Akeju as the Resident Electoral Commissioner to Oyo State must have come from politicians who abhor free and fair election.
“We cannot continue like this in this country by disrespecting insititutions. We can’t build institutions like this. Nobody in INEC is pregnant with elections. The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, is not pregnant with votes.
“There is high level of electoral illiteracy in this country. That is why a governor will openly say at a public forum that I (Olurode) should be removed.  That is tantamount to electoral illiteracy. We in INEC cannot subvert the will of the people. We don’t have powers to change anything.We allow the people to speak with their votes and we respect their choices”