Ogun West Senator, Solomon Adeola, has stated that the late former National Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman, Humphrey Nwosu, should not be honored among the heroes of June 12, 1993.
Recall that the Senate, on Thursday, using voice votes, defeated a motion to immortalize Nwosu, after it was rejected during Wednesday’s plenary.
The motion was sponsored by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senator Abba Moro and other South East Senators. The motion’s failure at the Senate made South East Senators storm out of the Red Chamber in protest.
Speaking during the debate on the motion, Senator Adeola argued that the late Professor Nwosu failed to salvage Nigeria’s democracy on June 12, 1993.
According to the former Lagos West Senator, from 2015 to 2023, Nwosu released the June 12 result but failed to announce it. The All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator advised the Senate to vote against the motion.
His words: “Mr President, distinguished colleagues this is one issue I have tried as much as possible to avoid. Yesterday when Senator Abaribe brought this matter up, I stood up and said no I will not allow this to happen. Because he is about to remind me of a very sad memory. And I’m speaking not along party or ethnic lines. As a result of the action or inaction of Humphrey Nwosu, I lost my immediate younger brother. He died right behind me for him (Nwosu) refusing to do or carry out his duty as INEC chairman.
“Many of my colleagues here stood up and said he conducted the freest and fairest election. There are three different meanings and three different interpretations that we should look at: conducting election, releasing results and announcing result. Yes, he conducted the election. Yes, some schools of thought said he released the result, but you and I know releasing result is not announcing result.
“He failed at the critical moment when he is supposed to salvage this democracy. Today we celebrate Abiola, or those people who have contributed to the success story of June 12 because they laid their lives, they put their lives on the line. If he is coward to withdraw in doing what is right at the critical moment, I think my brothers here should fair enough.
“We are not saying he should not bring his matter up, and as my colleagues have said everybody that was put before us that should be honoured we have celebrated them here. And don’t forget this is the highest lawmaking body of Federal Republic of Nigeria where we should see ourselves as one and one Nigeria. Professor Humphrey Nwosu, with due respect to him because he is now late, does not deserve to be immortalized as one of the very few Nigerians that have done the right thing.”
