The Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Prof Kabiru Bala, has said that he is usually shocked when he meets lecturers who brag about rigging elections.
Bala stated that more university lecturers should be engaged in electoral duties to strengthen sustainable elections in Nigeria, in spite of the conduct of some academics during elections.
Speaking in Zaria, Kaduna State, at the third International Conference organised by the Department of Political Science and International Studies, ABU, in collaboration with Mambayya House, Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies, Bayero University Kano, the Vice Chancellor said;
“Academics are a set of people that you can have confidence and trust in. If we want good elections, we have to ensure that the process is well sanitised.
“Therefore, if we think that academics were one group of people that can sanitise the election processes, they should be given the chance to do so.
“I know there are mixed reactions from the academics on the involvement of our members during general elections in Nigeria.
“It makes me shiver when I hear some of our colleagues say, ‘We are the people who rig elections.’ I participated in the process and I know what I did.”
