According to politician and businessman Atiku Abubakar, elected officials who defect to other political parties must resign from their positions. He further stated that party members should not be permitted to disregard party laws and authority.
The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), and the National Peace Committee (NPC) organized a national conference on bolstering democracy in Nigeria, where he participated as a panelist on Monday in Abuja.
There must be repercussions for members who disregard party regulations, he said.
“When it occurs, that should not be up for discussion or debate,” he stated, adding that electoral malpractice should typically be penalized rather than rewarded.
“The integrity of politics depends on these.” He went on to say.
He clarified that opposition parties need to understand that, despite the fact that the governing party may be unpopular and the public may be tired of it, it is very tough to overthrow it.
Building coalitions and outright mergers is essential for increasing the opposition’s ability to accomplish that objective. Examples from other nations and our own history demonstrate that,” he continued.
He maintained that the survival of democracy depends on the presence of powerful political parties, particularly opposition parties.
To be able to carry out their duties, parties must be robust and democratic. The opposite of democracy is when parties are owned by or subservient to individual powerful men.
“Party supremacy is important.” However, our parties’ current financial arrangement does not allow for party domination.
He claimed that funding by a small group of affluent people and governors is not a democratic paradigm.
He who pays the piper sets the melody, as we all know. We need to democratize funding. Members are required to co-own and invest in parties.
“When people begin with the mindset that “I don’t have to contribute because Tinubu, Peter Obi, or Atiku are rich,” they give in to the power of the big guy in politics.
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“Parties and candidates in more successful democracies raise money from the large number of members and supporters.”
He called on the public to contribute to the financing of their political decisions.
“Investing in something tends to increase people’s involvement with it. Thus, education is necessary for our people, particularly party members.
“The shift to really democratic parties will not be simple, but it must be started. Is it feasible for the government to provide parties with some funding during the transition period? He asked, “Perhaps proportionate to each party’s elected officials in the legislatures to prevent parties from forming solely to collect public funds?”
