… Leaders blame votes-trading, weak institutions for bad governance

The widening culture of vote-buying, weak institutions and inefficient of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) among others has been blamed for the stagnating democracy in Nigeria and poor governance.

The leaders which include, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, Adewale Adebayo, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Bode George, former deputy national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Burknor Akerele, former deputy governor of Lagos, said this at the Freedom Online yearly lecture held on Thursday in Ikeja.

This year’s public lecture had the theme: Nigeria’s Socio-Political Challenges: Whose Fault, Leaders or the Led?

Fubara, the keynote speaker, represented by Tele Ikuru, former deputy governor of Rivers State, in his speech called for more citizen’s participation in the electoral process and nation building for the country to attain its potential.

The Rivers Governor said leaders are selected from among the led and thus are a microcosm of the society, noting that the values, attitudes, and behaviors of the general populace are often reflected in the leadership they produce.

Fubara, identified myriads of reasons for the socio-political challenges that have persisted over the years, saying that Nigeria must check corruption, governance failure, economic stagnation/unemployment, voter-apathy for meaningful progress.

He further called for electoral reform for the will of Nigerians to prevail during elections, while bemoaning the culture of vote-buying, electoral malpractices, among the political class.

“Elections in Nigeria are often marred by violence, rigging, and voter intimidation. This undermines the democratic process and prevents credible leadership from emerging. Rivers State has witnessed some of the most violent electoral cycles in the country”, Fubara said.

Read also: Revamping Nigeria’s electoral system: Key reforms for a transparent and credible 2027 election

Gbenga Daniel, senator representing Ogun State in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, called for attitudinal change among Nigerians, noting that nation building was a collective responsibility of all citizens.

Also, Adams called for the unbundling of INEC and removal of the current chairman, Mahmood Yakubu for incompetence.

He pointed out that it is inevitable that Nigeria must carry out holistic electoral reform ahead of the 2027 general election, while lamenting the culture of vote-buying which according to him had aided bad governance.

“If you want a good election in this country you must remove the INEC chairman. Electoral reform is urgently required ahead 2027 and we can’t do without it.

Why are we keeping him?There is no time that an INEC chairman conducted three elections”, Adams said.

Also speaking, George said despite enormous potential Nigeria had retrogressed over the years because of poor leadership and faulty electoral process.

“We need to reform INEC and completely revamp the conduct of elections if we are serious”, George said

Adebayo, former presidential candidate, called for the restructuring of the country which must include the electoral process.

Similar view was shared by Akerele, who bemoaned the rising incidents of vote-buying and electoral manipulation, noting that good governance could not take place in such circumstances.