Former Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar has said that party members must not be allowed to ignore party supremacy and rules, adding that elected members who decamp to other political parties must vacate their seats.
He spoke on Monday in Abuja, as a panellist at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, organised by 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).
According to the Politician and businessman, there must be consequences for members who fail to comply with party rules.
He said “That should not be open for discussion or debate when it happens,” he said, adding that electoral malpractice generally must be punished rather than rewarded.
“These are necessary for political integrity.” He added.
On coalition he explained that opposition parties must realise that it is extremely difficult to dislodge a governing party, however unpopular it may be and however fed up the people may be with it.
“Coalition-building and outright mergers are critical for building the capacity of the opposition to achieve that goal. Our own history and examples from other countries prove that,” he added.
He argued that democracy can not be sustained without strong political parties, especially opposition parties.
“Parties need to be strong and democratic enough to be able to fulfil their roles. Ownership of parties by or their subordination to individual big men is the antithesis of democracy.
“Party supremacy is critical. But party supremacy can’t be achieved through the current funding model for our parties”
He said funding by governors and a few wealthy individuals is not a democratic model.
“As we know, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. Funding must be democratised. Members must invest in and co-own parties.
“When people start from the point of view that “Tinubu is rich or Peter Obi is rich or Atiku is rich, so I don’t have to contribute”, they surrender to the big man’s dominance of parties.
“In more effective democracies, parties and candidates raise funds from the mass of members and supporters.”
He urged citizens to invest in funding their political choices.
“When people invest in something, they tend to be more engaged with it. So, our people, especially party members need to be enlightened.
“The transition to truly democratised parties won’t be easy but must be begun. Could we consider some public (government) funding of parties during the transition period? Perhaps proportionate to each party’s elected officials in the legislatures to avoid parties springing up just to collect public funds?”, he quizzed.
