Vote buying highest form of corruption — Dogara

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3 years ago

Yakubu Dogara (FILE PHOTO)

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, has condemned the recent phenomenon of direct pricing and buying of votes, saying it is one of the highest forms of corruption.

Hon. Dogara stated this while delivering a lecture titled “Nigerian Democracy Post 1999: Progress, Diversity, and National Unity” at the public lecture, Magazine launch and award event organised by Mupun Youths Association at Zumji Event Centre, Jos, Plateau State.

He pointed out that the high prevalence of vote-buying in the electoral system of the country is, without any doubt, of great concern to all Nigerians and members of the global community who truly love democracy.

The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, who said it is disheartening that the absurd phenomenon has assumed alarming proportions in recent times, charged Nigerians not to surrender to the criminality as they cannot do so and still expect honour.

“When political office holders defy the law and corruptly assume office, they will always operate as if they are above the law. Vote buying and other sundry criminal manipulations of the electoral process in Nigeria have left our citizens in an abusive political relationship.

“As a result, we have been married off to a mob. A mob that rules us by the example of their power, not by the power of their example and the dictates of the law. A mob that rules by fear as an inalienable tool rather than by courage. A mob that accepts the status quo rather than challenges it. Mobs don’t grow others; they only destroy others in order to grow themselves.

“We follow the mob because we have to, not because they provide us with any sense of significance in our lives. Our democracy has stagnated and will sadly remain so until we eliminate all sham elections, which have the effect of throwing up the worst of us to lead the best of us”.

Hon. Dogara, who was represented at the occasion by the former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Timothy Golu noted that Nigeria has begun to see some rays of hope with the coming into force of the new electoral law which empowers the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to adopt the use of BVAS machines in voter accreditation and electronic transmission of results.

According to him, if the recently concluded elections in Anambra, Ekiti, Osun and FCT are anything to go by, President Buhari would have succeeded in bequeathing to us a legacy of democratic elections in which votes actually count.

On security, Hon. Dogara posited that the country cannot lose the fight against violence and still keep its civilization and country, adding that if Nigeria’s democracy must deliver on its promises, Nigerians must deploy their collective will and energy to root out violence.

Hon. Dogara said it is wrong to conclude that Nigeria is doomed and that democracy has failed, adding that what is happening to Nigeria is a failure at nation-building and not the system that the country adopted.

His words: “Democracy is and I believe will continue to be the best form of government ever invented by mankind; although it is not perfect, just like no human institution is perfect. Ours is a structural and system failure which can be fixed. It is not a failure of democracy per se.

“The very foundation and structures upon which our system is built are faulty and something radical must be done to correct it.

“We have no option but to come together as one people to build our nation.”

He, therefore, called on Nigerians to build networks across people of all faiths and be deliberate about working together—Christians and Muslims, women and men, youths and the elderly—in accommodating and defending the interests of each other.

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