The Chairman of, the Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Senator Ibrahim Kabiru Gaya, has said that with the new electoral law, there will be no room for rigging and voting to buy as Nigeria heads for the 2023 general elections.
Senator Gaya stated this during a chat with the media in Kano state North-Western Nigeria.
He said with the signing of the 2022 Electoral Law, the era of money politics in the nation’s electoral system is a foregone issue, stressing that politicians would have to work hard to win the hearts of electorates to succeed during elections going forward.
He said as the Chairman of the committee on INEC, he was instrumental in the formation and passing of the bill before being signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The new electoral law has come to sanitise the electoral system in the country, reduce the cost of elections, and above all, it will not be easy to rig elections, especially through vote buying. It has taken care of most negative things that happen during elections in the country,” he said.
Gaya, who is of the All Progressive Congress, APC, said he is recontesting for the Kano South senatorial seat for the fifth time in the 2023 general elections, assuring that he will win the election because of his positive track record and impact on lives of people in the area.
He said his returning cum years in the house will enable him to get high-ranking and juicy positions, which will translate into more developmental opportunities for the people of the district.
“The more you are there, the more you become a top-ranking Senator.
“My opponent from the NNPP, Kawu Sumaila is doing well but I will beat him in the election. We have been in this for a long and we know the game, I have more crowd than him.
“I have done so much for my people to get their votes without money.
Politicians should stop using money to buy votes. Do projects that touch the lives of the people and they will vote for you. That is what has been working for me. There were situations where people from other parties vote for me because of what I have done,” he explained.
He listed some of the projects he has done across his Senatorial District including digging over 919 boreholes, building 600 blocks of classrooms, constructing and rehabilitation of several roads, sponsorship of 16 students to study abroad, buying over 600 vehicles, distributing over 1,000 motorcycles, giving out loans to hundreds of people for irrigation farming, among others.
“Because of the irrigation, the land is always green all year round providing food and wealth to the people,” he said
According to him, empowerment through skills acquisition for self-reliance will top his agenda as well as the completion of ongoing projects, when voted into the red chamber for the fifth time.
“Government alone cannot employ the people as such there is a need for an increase in the art of skill acquisition for people to become self-reliant thereby alleviating poverty,” added the senator.
Dominica Nwabufo
