WORLD NEWS:Prof Mahmood Yakubu-INEC Chairman, Frank Ukonga-DA Nat Chair, Chief Peter Ameh-IPAC Chair, etc storms YIAGA Summit on “Ending the scourge of Vote Buying & Selling in Nigerian Elections”-Focus on Ekiti, Osun & 2019 guber Polls.

From rt: H.E. Prince Frank Ukonga -National Chairman of DA-Democratic Alternative Party with High Chief Peter Ameh- National Chairman of IPAC and Mr. Williams- Deputy National Chairman of DPC

H.E. Prince Frank Ukonga - National Chairman of DA-Democratic Alternative Party in a warm Handshake with Prof. Mahmood Yakubu- National Chairman of INEC

H.E. Prince Frank Ukonga- National Chairman of DA-Democratic Alternative Party with Hon. Samson Itodo- CEO YIAGA Africa- Sponsor of the NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN BILL

WORLD NEWS:Prof Mahmood Yakubu-INEC Chairman, Frank Ukonga-DA Nat Chair, Chief Peter Ameh-IPAC Chair, etc storms YIAGA Summit on “Ending the scourge of Vote Buying & Selling in Nigerian Elections”-Focus on Ekiti, Osun & 2019 guber Polls.

Today was a historic day in the annals of Nigerian Democratic dispensation as major stakeholders engage on round table discussion at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja on the auspices of YIAGA Africa to discuss on the Theme of “Ending the Scourge of Vote Buying and Selling in Nigeria Elections”.

The Executive Director of YIAGA, Hon Samson Itodo the successful sponsor of the “Not Too Young to Run Bill” anchored the program as a panelist.

The INEC National Chairman Hon. Prof. Mahmood Yakubu was the Special Guest of Honour and the Key Note speaker. And he was very candid in his speech that if there is a buyer them there is a seller and all are culpable. He asked a tactical question: Who are the Vote Buyers? And all the political Parties Chairmen and representatives were taken by surprise as to if and how the scourge was to be stopped has been revealed. It is dialectical that the political parties and their candidates have to stop inducing voters with money. He stressed the importance of Voter Education. Another issue on prosecuting electoral offenses was raised and he said that INEC is doing all to cooperate with the other security agencies to prosecute offenders. Finally he assured all the participants that the issue of Vote Buying and selling would soon be a thing of the past as INEC is putting serious measures in place to stem the scourge.

In his remarks the National Chairman of IPAC [Inter Party Advisory Council] High Chief Peter Ameh noted that the scourge is real and could truncate the democratic exercise. He made case for other political parties that have no access to neither federal nor state funds as the parties have not produced the president or governors of states and thereby are among the victims of these obnoxious practice. He pledged the readiness of IPAC to support and work hand in gloves with INEC and other relevant agencies to check this scourge before it conflagrate to burn out the resilient democratic dispensation of the Nigerian Nation state.

Addressing the Media in Sheraton Hotel, the venue of the historic event, H.E. Prince Frank Ukonga the National Chairman of Democratic Alternative offered the following Observations: that all quick fix solutions to stem the scourge would only be a temporary solution as the root cause of the problem is the winner takes it all syndrome of the presidential system of government that is being practiced by Nigeria. So the stakes are so high that all Parties want to win at whatever cost and by whatever means. He advocated the inclusion of Proportional Representation [PR] into the constitution of the Republic to ameliorate the anxieties; where if a political party scores a certain percentage of votes in an election the party would produce a legislator to represent the people in the various Houses. If this is implemented the parties and candidates would only be competing to win say 25% of total vote cast in an election to be in government and not the win  or lose system. That is the practice in advance democracies of Germany, Russia, France, and Canada and in many other countries. This would stem the practice of vote buying and selling and eliminate other electoral offenses, expand the political space, create jobs, guarantee quality legislations and even representation.

The conveners of the historic event Mr. Samson Itodo presented a well researched Journal tagged “Duly Elected or Duly Purchased?” - Report on Vote Buying and Selling in the 2018 Ekiti governorship Election.

BY National Peoples News. Desk Editor: Bashiru Majiyagbe