News Investigators/ A former Presidential Political Adviser, Akin Osuntokun, says Nigeria must develop an electoral culture driven by ideology,merit and performance to strengthen democracy
Mr Osuntokun, who served as Political Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo anda former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the could could learn valuable lessons from the U.S. midterm elections.
He spoke in an interview with NAN in Lagos on Wednesday, against the backdrop of Tuesday’s U.S. midterms in which the Democratic Party regained control of Congress from the ruling Republican Party.
Mr Osuntokun said although the American and Nigerian democratic experiences differed significantly, elections should ideally reflect voters’ assessment of government performance.
He, however, expressed concern that Nigeria’s political environment remained largely driven by ethnic, religious and sectional considerations rather than ideology and performance.
“The American democracy is responsive to ideology and performance in government. Rather than being tribal or sectional, it is more ideological and driven by performance, which is a positive attribute,” he said.
He said: “There is no logical correlation between the two societies in terms of the standard, relevance or understanding of democracy.
“We just hope our own elections will also be determined by the performance of government. But that is not the reality here.”
The political scientist said Nigeria remained at what he described as the pre-ideological stage of politics, with political parties yet to demonstrate clearly defined ideological positions.
He recalled that former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, attempted to entrench ideological politics through the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC).
According to him, the experiment was truncated by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
“Nigeria is still at what I would call the pre-ideological level of politics. We are not getting to that state.
“Babangida tried to impose it by the SDP and NRC. According to some research, you can say that it succeeded. But then the whole process was wasted with the annulment of the June 12 election,” he said.
Mr Osuntokun said the present multi-party system made a mockery of ideology-driven politics.
He questioned the ideological identity of the country’s major political parties, particularly the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying their labels did not reflect their policies.
He argued that ethnic and religious considerations remained stronger determinants of electoral choices than government performance.
Mr Osuntokun said Nigeria’s inability to achieve substantial national integration remained a fundamental obstacle to the development of ideological politics.
He said meaningful democratic competition would emerge when Nigerians began to prioritise class interests, ideological positions and governance outcomes over ethnic affiliations.
The former NAN boss also identified centralisation of political and economic powers as a major factor fuelling ethnic competition for control of the Federal Government.
“These are the reasons accountable for the position Nigeria is today. What we have is a competition among the regions to seize the national government and apply it to confer community advantage over their people.
“Unless we go back to decentralisation and devolution, if we don’t do that and all the powers are centralised, that in itself provokes inter-ethnic competition,” he said.
Mr Osuntokun further argued that the country’s electoral challenges were rooted partly in longstanding controversies surrounding population figures and voter registration.
He questioned the reliability of Nigeria’s population and voter registration figures, arguing that weaknesses in the census process could undermine confidence in electoral statistics.
The politician recalled controversies surrounding the 1952 and 1962 population censuses which generated disagreements over population distribution between northern and southern Nigeria.
According to him, inflated population figures could translate into questionable voter registration statistics, thereby raising concerns about the credibility of elections.
He, however, clarified that his observations were not directed at the current administration, but reflected longstanding structural problems in Nigeria’s political and electoral system.
On the peaceful conduct and acceptance of results in the U.S. midterms, Osuntokun said Nigeria’s electoral process remained contentious and insufficiently transparent.
He expressed hope that Nigeria would gradually develop an electoral system in which citizens assessed political parties and candidates based on their records and policy commitments.
The politician said such a development would strengthen democratic accountability and encourage political leaders to prioritise effective governance.
NAN
