Jega to Nigerians: Tell politicians they can no longer buy their way into office

POLITICS – It is report that the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has asked Nigerians to let politicians know that can no longer ‘buy’ their way into elective positions by ensuring that the electoral processes are not tampered with.

He said that until the problem of vote-buying is tackled in the country, those in government will remain irresponsible and non-responsive to the aspirations of the people.

Jega said this in Abuja on Friday at an interactive forum organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, to interrogate how African government’s can reconcile procedural democratic practices with substantive democracy.

He noted that the struggle for democracy to survive in Africa has been characterized by frustration because of the failure of governance to satisfy the aspirations and expectations of the people as well as promote stability.

Jega also decried the mode of politics in most parts of Africa which he said excludes a large segment of the population, especially women and youths from the political process.

On the issue of corruption, the erstwhile INEC boss disclosed that reliance of democratic governments in Africa on extractive revenue such as sales of crude oil as opposed to tax-based revenue raised a major challenge to the fight against corruption.

He, however, maintained that despite the frustrations of democracy, militarianism was not an option.