The Senator representing Anambra Central at the Senate, Victor Umeh, has frowned at Wednesday’s rejection of a motion seeking to immortalise late Prof. Humphrey Nwosu by the Senate.
The motion, raised under matters of urgent public importance by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and co-sponsored by members of the minority caucus primarily from the South-East, aimed to recognise Professor’s Nwosu’s contributions and courageous defense of the democratic electoral process during the 1993 presidential elections.
Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, who was presiding over the session, noted that the motion was a contentious one, citing divided public opinion on Prof. Nwosu’s role in the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election.
When the motion was eventually put to a voice vote, the ‘nays’ had the day, effectively rejecting the proposal.
But appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Senator Umeh described what happened at the red chamber as very undemocratic.
He said, “I think it is a question of people not been fair to a man who has done so well and instead of giving him accolade, we want to be uncharitable to him even unto death. This motion came today at the most timely moment because he will be buried on Friday, two day way.
So, there is no way we cannot talk about his contributions in the parliament, those who have opposing views will say that the man should not be immortalised, those who say that he should be immortalized should say their views. Shutting down the motion the way it was done this morning is very undemocratic.”
Senator Umeh argued that the Senate leadership should have allowed the lawmakers to debate on the motion, saying that such motions are debated every other day at the Senate irrespective of how anyone feels about the motion.
He said the rejection of the motion is unfair to the late Prof. Nwosu whom he said gave his all for Nigeria.
Prof. Nwosu was the Chairman of the defunct National Electoral Commission, which conducted the June, 1993 presidential election that produced late MKO Abiola as winner, and was adjudged by many as the most credible election conducted in Nigeria.
