Lawan advocates inclusion of lessons against vote-buying in schools

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday, called for the inclusion of lessons on the danger of vote-buying in school curricula in the country.

Lawan made the call when a group known as Polling Unit Ambassadors of Nigeria visited him at the National Assembly in Abuja.

He said the introduction of the subject in school would help the students to understand the dangers of such acts when they finally reach voting age.

He also revealed stiffer punishments against the criminal act had been added to the amended 2022 Electoral Act signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Senate president said: “How I wish everybody can be an ambassador against vote- buying or selling. To be a polling unit ambassador is something that you have decided because you think the present situation is not good enough.

READ ALSO: Naira redesign will check vote-buying – EFCC

“People sell their votes and people buy votes during elections. For those that sell, I think we need to enlighten them and educate them that your vote is your liberty and freedom. Your vote is your education and it is your health.

“In fact, your vote is your life in a democracy. And if you sell it, it is like you are mortgaging your education and your life because of a pittance. So we need to educate those who sell their votes.

“Election environment is like a market because you cannot have a vote to sell if you don’t have a buyer. And the crime is evil. The vote buyer identifies those who are willing to sell and in fact, left to me, I think the vote buyer is even more criminal than the vote sellers especially in the Nigerian case because most people who sell their votes are voters who hardly understand the implications of what they are doing.”

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