A former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mike Igini, says elites have hijacked political parties in Nigeria.
Speaking in Bauchi State, the former INEC REC warned that democracy is in danger if the trend is allowed to continue.
He said: “We have identified the insubordination of internal democracy and fundamentally we have also identified the issue of party financing which has been hijacked by the elites. Political parties are owned by individuals and elite groups in our country and that is the total hijack you can find today.
“If democracy must have a hopeful future in our country and the continent, there must be a total paradigm shift, with respect to political parties, there should be a rebuilding of political parties in the continent. To rebuild a political party as an institution, you require people who have virtues of democracy because institutions don’t come from heaven. Who are the people that would build these political parties?
“It is very important because in our country today and across Africa, the value pyramid today is up-side-down, in Nigeria; dishonesty is now on top and those who do the wrong things are now the ones being celebrated in our country. Are they the people who will rebuild the system that has hijacked these political parties?
“The current situation with regards to political parties, if they remain the way they are then democracy would have no future in our country because at the moment democracy has no turn over for the poor ordinary Nigerian and most people in Africa. Democracy has worked more for the elites of our country.”