Atiku Insists Elected Members Who Defect Must Vacate Their Positions

Atiku Abubakar, a politician and businessman, has stated that elected members who defect to other political parties must resign from their seats and that party members cannot disregard party supremacy and regulations.

He participated in a national conference on bolstering Nigerian democracy on Monday in Abuja. The conference was organized by the National Peace Committee (NPC), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA).

He asserted that those who disregard party regulations must face repercussions.

He said that election misconduct should typically be penalized rather than praised, saying, “That should not be open for discussion or debate when it happens.”

“These are essential for maintaining political integrity.” He went on.

Regarding coalition, he clarified that opposition parties need to understand that it is more challenging to overthrow a ruling party, regardless of how unpopular it is or how tired the populace may be of it.

“For the opposition to increase its ability to accomplish that objective, coalition building and outright mergers are essential. That is demonstrated by both our own history and international instances,” he continued.
He maintained that strong political parties, particularly opposition parties, are essential to the survival of democracy.

“Parties must possess the strength and democracy necessary to carry out their functions. Democracy is the antithesis of party ownership by or submission to particular great men.

Party dominance is essential. However, the way our parties are currently funded does not allow for party supremacy.

He said funding by governors and a few wealthy individuals is not a democratic model.

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The music is determined by the person who pays the piper, as is well known. It is necessary to democratize funding. Parties require members to co-own and invest in them.

“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.