Dare Babalola
In a remarkable display of integrity, Pa Francis Emeka, an 85-year-old from Umuleri in Anambra East, reveals why he shuns monetary inducements during elections.
Citing the legacy of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as his inspiration, Pa Emeka said he has chosen not to collect money to vote, despite no reported cases of vote buying in the area.
In an interview with newsmen during the ongoing governorship election, Emeka recalled an encounter in Niger State, in the former Northern Region, where Azikiwe advised him and others against taking money to vote.
He said, “I came to vote. I don’t collect money to vote. During the time of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Awolowo, they came to Northern Region. I was in Niger at that time.
“Mopol was beating me when I climbed Nnamdi Azikiwe’s vehicle. Then he said they should leave me. Everybody knows that Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was a popular man in Nigeria. He was telling us at that time that we should not collect money to vote.
“So, from that time, I have always come out to vote, and I do not collect money to vote.”
Today, he is exercising his right to vote in line with that long-standing principle, refusing any monetary inducement, as 16 political parties contest the Anambra governorship against the sitting governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of All Progressives Grand Alliance.
