…as aspirant faults Nigeria’s constitution
By Eben Enasco Kingsley, Benin city
The Esama of Benin Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, has hinted that he does not run his businesses on the pages of the newspapers but takes steps to develop and groom them to an enviable standard.
Chief Igbinedion gave the hints at the seventeen convocation and
founder’s day celebration of the Igbinedion University, Okada in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State.
While speaking to the mammoth crowed that besiege the event, Esama noted that the institution has achieved so much since the school was founded adding that God’s hand is upon it; stressing, it is the reason the institution is succeeding.
He reiterated that although, he does not run his university on the
passages of the newspapers but believes in doing what is right and ensuring continuity which is the hallmark of sustainable development.
However, while commending the contributions of Mr. Innocent Idibia fondly known as Tuface, to the National Daily, he said Mr. Innocent Idibia has done the country proud through his music stressing that all was made possible through hard-work and dedication to ones duty.
He encouraged the students to take their studies seriously and be a good ambassador to the country where ever they find themselves.
Delivering a lecture on the theme cultural literacy and the future of multi-ethnic states at the institution, Mr. Odia Ofenmu faulted the Nigerian constitution that guaranteed a Nigerian citizen without a primary six certificate or diploma to only vote in an election and not to be allowed to contest and be voted for in an election.
“If a state says education is free, it ought to mean that everybody
has a right to it. In the Nigeria constitution, it is said you can
vote but you cannot be voted for unless you have acquired a school certificate or a diploma. I can assure you that our constitution is already wrong in that direction because what it says in real sense is that if you do not have a school certificate or a diploma, you are not a citizen. This is what our constitution really says that you can vote but you cannot be voted for. It dis-valued the citizenship of so many Nigerians”
Mr. Ofenmu opined that, as a citizen of a country, there should have been no barrier of any kinds whether ethnicity, education or otherwise to disenfranchised anybody who has the intention of holding or contesting any political positions in Nigeria stressing that it is pertinent for country to outgrown that for the interest of the nation.
