The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says
Nigeria’s democracy is being threatened by the predominance of money politics.
Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, said this on Wednesday at a
one-day colloquium on emerging issues that will shape the 2023 general
election.
The event was organised by the Centre for Democracy and
Development (CDD) in collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for West
Africa (OSIWA) in Abuja.
Yakubu said there are three critical challenges ahead of the
2023 election, listing them as insecurity, fake news and money politics.
“My third area of
concern is the influence of money on politics and is becoming more present and
the risk is that ours may soon become a plutocracy for the rich rather than a
democracy for the people,” NAN quoted him as saying.
“The way money is exchanging hands is a source of concern,
yes, we have collaboration with ICPC and the EFCC and only recently we renewed
our collaboration with the EFCC, saying that we are going to do something
together.
“However, there are two dimensions to it, when you have
willing connectors it becomes a bit more difficult to contain the situation.
“On the one hand, you
have brilliant examples, we all saw this on the social media in Anambra when
there was an attempt to bribe voters and the women refused to accept the money
and voted their conscience.”
Yakubu said INEC is concerned about the security situation
in the country as it prepares for the elections.
He, however, noted that the commission has been meeting with
security agencies to address the challenges.
The chairman added that the commission would try as much as
possible to be transparent during the elections in order not to give room for
fake news.
“I believe that the antidote to fake news is more real good news, and greater openness and transparency, we will continue to be open and transparent,” he said.
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