#Echos In Nation Building: Vote-Buying And Political Party System In Nigeria
Nigeria needs a rebirth because the nation is entangled in a quagmire. With political party system Nigeria is doomed. Her future is bleak.
In the recently held gubernatorial election in Ekiti State (South-western part of Nigeria), some voters were bought over for N10, 000 (naira) each and some N5000 (naira) each. A lot more sold their votes for as low as N1,000 (naira) and others N800 (naira) per vote.
This is sickening, appalling, awful and horrid. For one, it shows the extent to which Nigerians had been pauperized by the ruling class. Secondly, it reveals unequivocally the chicanery of politicians and the degree of dehumanization to which the masses had been subjected.
The shambolic vote – buying exercise that saw Mr. Abiodun Oyebanji, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate emerge as Ekiti State Governor-elect on Saturday, clearly indicated massive erosion of virtue and dignity in the Nigerian political process and electoral architecture.
As we know, monetisation of elections is not only a direct invitation to kleptocracy but a license to embezzlement, lawlessness and looting of public treasury in government houses. Notable party stalwarts from other states including the Presidential candidate and members of the National Executive Committee of APC converged on Ekiti State last week to ensure the ruling party’s candidate access more money with which to buy over the electorates. It is evident now that the political chessboard of Nigeria is not for the candidate with superlative ideas or competence or the political party with the most promising ideology or blueprints for good governance rather it is all about the highest bidder having the day.
In political parties’ primary elections held across the nation in June, monetary inducements swayed the delegates’ votes in favour of the moneybags or those who out-gave other aspirants within the same party. Though this ugly & shameful trend is outlawed nevertheless, it has continued to grow in leaps and bounds.
Bad and condemnable as vote-buying is, it cannot stop as long as Political Party System exists in our constitution. Why?
Political Party System is vacuous, empty and dumb. It has no bearing with human society; no traces to nature hence it is eternally propelled by selfishness and individualism. Almost all human endeavours have their roots or link to nature but not political party. Inherent in Party System is an incredible prowess to pollute, contaminate and compromise humanity. The engine of Party System is subterfuge, deceit and under-handedness. The most “successful” political parties in Nigeria thrive on trickery, stratagems and fraud.
For Nigeria and indeed Africa, political party system is a disaster, a ruinous instrument of politicking. It is a faulty foundation for Democracy in Nigeria. Since the country woke up to Political Party System in 1958, there had not been a conclusive general election on party basis devoid of rigging, electoral fraud and vote-buying. Shall we then continue in this and expect the nation to become corruption-free, prosperous and fulfill the aspirations of its teeming masses?
The fact that less than 38 percent of qualified voters actually participated in the Ekiti State gubernatorial election confirms loss of confidence of the people in political party system of democracy.
Today, seven years into the APC government led by President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), Nigeria’s debt burden has jumped up from about $10 billion in 2015 to $95 billion now. Over 90 percent of our revenue is spent on debt servicing and according to the Accountant-General of the federation, Nigerian government now borrows to pay workers’ salaries. What a woeful state of the nation!
Inspite of the huge debt accumulated by the PMB government, infrastructural facilities are still in deep deficit. There is little or nothing to justify the humongous debt.
Billions of dollars spent on electricity generation & distribution has yielded no positive results as the nation sleeps and wakes up in darkness daily. Countless manufacturers, medium and small scale operators had closed down due to poor power supply and high cost of production. Unemployment is at all time high.
The more the government borrows, the higher the spate of Corruption perpetrated by Political Party stalwarts, appointees and public officials. They connive and conspire to inflate cost of government projects and loot the treasury. In some instances, the projects are abandoned halfway after receiving the money. Many vendors and contractors patronized by government agencies are members of the ruling party and as such due diligence is ignored in their transactions and processes.
Kidnapping, banditry and terrorism had assumed unprecedented proportion across all geo-political zones of the country. Nigerians daily bemoan festering insecurity even as farmers, road users, commuters, church leaders and worshippers have become targets of a growing band of marauders and irredentists. These outlaws are waxing stronger by the day, killing innocent citizens; defying the Nigerian military firepower and encircling the nation. All arms of government are weakened and compromised by ravaging Corruption emanating from Political Party System and its ways.
Nigeria needs re-invention and this must begin with the political party system. We have been going round in a circle for too long. It’s high time the truth be told, embraced and enthroned. Now is the hour to replace Political Party System with the professions in the country. This is the panacea for our national woes, stagnation and age-long self-delusion. Party System had inflicted too many injuries upon our psyche. It has neither relevance nor positive utility.
Nigeria has practised Political Party Democracy for over 35 years & till now it couldn’t symphonize the various ethnic components of the country. We are divided and fragmented under different Political Parties’ administrations. No nationhood let alone patriotism.
With Professions or legitimate occupations becoming the dais of representation in government, national desegregation is easily achievable. This is so because, citizens would be at liberty to contest and represent their Professions anywhere they are based in the country. Tribe and place or state of origin is rendered irrelevant and done away with. People would begin to feel safe anywhere in the country, mingle easily under the umbrella and machinery of professionalism which produces commonality of goals, inter-dependency, pursuit of excellence and fulfilment of aspirations. This method of representing Professions and mould of democracy is termed LIBERTOCRACY.
With LIBERTOCRACY, Corruption will be effectively tackled and eliminated. First, it will neutralize the toxins of party system including high cost of electoral Candidature. Nomination Fees of Political parties are usually exorbitant, it is not so with Professions.
Secondly, under LIBERTOCRACY, an aspirant will campaign only among members of his/her profession. No bribery, no vote-buying. Professional colleagues know each other’s salary packages.
Government projects would henceforth reflect actual cost & no longer over bloated by Politicians and civil servants. This is premised on the fact that manufacturers and dealers in goods and services will have representatives in the Legislature.
LIBERTOCRACY serves to rescue democracy from the stranglehold of the affluent, the super-rich, the moneybags by opening the gateway of participation to commoners, average income earners, the jobless, the physically challenged and retirees.
For more on the pattern and benefits of LIBERTOCRACY for Nigeria and humanity, please click the link below:
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