NEC's National Commissioner, Professor Lai Olurode
By Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appealed to politicians not to endanger the stability being gained by Nigeria’s democracy, saying the current democratisation process is being threatened by unwholesome practices noticed in the just concluded general elections .
INEC's National Commissioner, Professor Lai Olurode, expressed the fear while speaking in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital on Wednesday, at the presentation of certificates of return to winners in the National Assembly election in the state. Olurode, who serves as the National Commissioner in charge of Ekiti, Oyo and Ogun states, lamented that it was saddening that people still resort to ballot snatching and all sorts of violence to win elections 16 years after the advent of democracy in Nigeria. "We shouldn't take this democratisation process for granted. We can unwittingly be putting it in the opposite direction if care is not taken because the are some recent developments that call for concern. Some of the key issues include the fact that political parties, the political elite, INEC as a commission and security agencies have to address.
"We are not yet there, you can't do elections without deployment of large number of security agencies to the field. It cannot continue to be like that. The cost of organising election in this country is quite huge compared to what the cost is in other countries.
“ America does not spend as much as an average legislator spends in an election in this country. After spending all these money, where are you going to get it back from if not from the public purse? It is so costly to do elections in the country because every process has been monetised."
Olurode also lamented that political parties as institutions in the democratic process had been relegated, saying "how many members of political parties pay their membership dues in this country, like it was done in the olden days? Nowadays, you have strong people in political parties who call the shots and members have no voice. We can't run political parties like that, it is not sustainable."
"There is no internal democracy in party processes in this country, it shouldn't be like that. We should not gag the voices of the members. This is why we are fearing that the democratisation process in this country might be put in reverse gear."
He said contestants would sell their property to contest elections and stated that it shouldn't be like that, advising that "we should be members of political parties because we believe in their ideologies, otherwise we create political gods in the political parties and if you don't allow people to have a voice, political process is unwittingly endangered."The INEC chief said "We should strengthen the party institution. This is very important for our democracy to be sustained."