Former governor of Abia State and a leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has alleged that while the 2015 general election was credible and peaceful in the North and the South-west, results of the polls were to a large extent written at homes in the South-South and South-East.

Making this claim on Friday during the investiture of Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State as Verbatim Magazine Man of the Year at Giginya-Coral Hotel, Sokoto, Onu said democracy could only grow and endure in an environment where elections were free, peaceful and credible.

According to him, “So far in our country, Nigeria is divided into two parts. On the one hand in the North and South West, elections are reasonably free and fair while in the South-South and the South East, results of elections, to a large extent, are written in homes”.

Stressing that all Nigerian citizens must be made to feel that they were participating in choosing their leaders, erstwhile chairman of the defunct ANPP described this as the only way to build trust between the people and their
leaders.

He advocated the use of electronic voting in such a way that all elections would be conducted on the same day, adding that this would facilitate the conduct of credible elections in the country.

Onu noted that Nigerians owed a lot of gratitude to Wamakko for working very hard to effect a change in government, which had given hope of a brighter future for all Nigerians.

Describing Wamakko as a “Man of masses”, who worked tirelessly to look after those who ordinarily could not look after themselves, he said, “We have
come to honour a leader of his people at a time when many of the cherished values have been set aside and neglected in our dear country. We have come to recognise a leader who put the interest of his people first, in many of the things he did”.

Speaking shortly after receiving the award, Governor Wamakko averred that the sacrifice of the APC was for the interest of Nigerians, not for their personal gains, adding that they were ready to pay the supreme price for this country.

According to him, the struggle was to salvage Nigeria from bad governance and other vices that tarnished
the name of this country among the comity of nations.

According to him, “Now the country’s image has changed, all the national leaders had called our President-elect, assuring him of their support and cooperation.

“Even the stigma that our nationals are facing outside the country is fast washing away and very soon
it will be the thing of the past,” he assured.

Wamakko commended the media, particularly the Verbatim Magazine for the role they had played in making this
change a reality, maintaining that if they had not done what they did, their effort would had been fruitless.