By Josephine Oguntoyinbo
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Political affairs analysts, Dr Frederick Akinkuotu and Mr llemobayo Dahunsi, have advised the electorate to shun money politics in the forthcoming general elections to avoid putting the country and its citizens in a worse situation .
They gave the advice in separate interviews with The Hope.
The stakeholders frowned at how money have taken over Nigeria’s political and electoral space, damaging the country’s democratic system.
According to Akinkuotu, democracy is adjudged as the best governance model but the political process is being constantly bastardized in Nigeria due to prevalence of vote- buying.
He said “ln the past, politicians were known to distribute items such as T-Shirts, caps and badges with party emblems and other sundry items to their supporters and voters during political rallies but financial inducement to buy the conscience of voters was not common.
“The phenomenon of money politics, vote-buying and selling began to gain prominence during the second republic which started in 1979, resulting in elections not being free and fair.”
Corruption, he said although a universal phenomenon, had become problematic in Nigeria, prevalent among both the leaders and the followers, having penetrated every sector.
The don maintained that willingness of voters to sell their votes to the highest bidder was undoubtedly a disturbing trend which puts a blemish on the electoral process in Nigeria and If unchecked, portends danger of collapsing democratization process in the country.
In his own view, Mr. Dahunsi noted that the high rate of poverty is another factor that encourages the growing trend of monetization of politics in Nigeria.
He warned that it is suicidal in any democracy for the electorate to be collecting money before voting which he said is the current scenario that the country is suffering from.
Others stressed the need to single out worthy politicians and support them massively for the country’s fortunes.
They however tasked government to ensure that people found corrupting the political process are punished to serve as a deterrent to others.
