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Anthony Ufoh
Chukwuemeka Eze, a law and Diplomacy expert, has stated that there is a need for a political summit in Nigeria in order to tackle the menace of electoral malpractices such as vote buying.
Chukwuemeka, who spoke on Arise Television in an interview on Monday, said that there would not no meaningful changes if an urgent step is not taken in that direction.
He said, “I think we are treating the political symptoms and not the root cause. We need politicians who need to sit down and talk and directly agree on a code of conduct on the management of politics generally, and elections specifically. I don’t want to take specific incidents because the problem is holistic and foundational.
“Where there is no rule as to the maximum sum a person can spend in an election, there is no electoral offences tribunal, people can take ballot boxes, and allegations will be made, no accountability. I mean, definitely this thing will continue until there is a political summit and the outcome of that summit is reduced into legislation acceptable by all parties.
He cautioned that Nigeria’s “winner-takes-all” political culture continued to fuel desperation and misconduct during elections.
“As long as we adopt this winner-takes-all attitude, the loser or the person who perceives himself that he will lose will do everything possible to ensure that he doesn’t lose. More so, considering the amount of money spent on elections, hundreds of millions of Naira, billions of Naira, some people sell all their properties and when they get involved, the society looks down on them. There should be a fallback position where losers will have something to clutch to in time,” he explained.
Eze contrasted Nigeria’s political landscape with other countries where strong institutions and corporate systems provide relevance and roles for those who lose elections.
“Yes, in those other parts of the world where winner-takes-all is allowed, we have strong institutions to protect the loser. We also have strong corporate organisations. You can see a former governor going back to teaching a classroom.
You can see a former governor in Nigeria going back to the classroom to take up teaching. He may not be the dean, and the dean of the faculty will be directing him. But we don’t have the same or similar labour practices, institutional framework, capacity building and all that we have in those countries,” he said.