A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commissioning (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has condemned the act of vote-buying in the country.
Jega made the condemnation on Thursday, July 19, in Abuja, when he spoke in a lecture titled, Democracy and the Challenges of Nation Building in Africa.
The ex-INEC chairman asked voters to shun such politicians who entice them with cash to get their votes. He however urged voters to vote their conscience in instances where they are unable to reject the money due to poverty.
He has said that Nigerian politicians are more interested in winning elections than in governance, adding that such an attitude was not good for the country and its people."In most African countries, certainly it is true also here in Nigeria, many politicians spend a lot of time trying to win an election and very little time comparatively in preparing for what they would do when they come into office," he said“The best of them will now only begin to appoint a committee, an advisory committee to prepare for them what to do after they have been elected.
“Frankly, for me, this is a major challenge of leadership all over Africa, but most especially for us here in Nigeria.
“If you want to be elected, you have to be very clear from the begin mint on what you want to do for the people and you should hit the ground running from day one.
“If leaders come into office unprepared, a lot of time is taken before they can get up to speed in delivering their mandate.”
Meanwhile, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has threatened that his party will not participate in the 2019 general elections if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies in the country refuse to display impartiality during the polls.
Secondus issued the threat on Thursday, July 19, at the PDP the national secretariat when hosting a combined delegation of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
The party chairman alleged that INEC manipulated the result of the just concluded Ekiti governorship election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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