2023: INEC Chairman Warns Politicians, Reveals Three Things Threatening Nigeria’s Democracy

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has warned politicians in the country to avoid anything that can threaten democracy in Nigeria.

The INEC Chairman who spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at an event organized to x-ray issues ahead of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, identified insecurity, fake news and money politics as what may pose challenges to the forthcoming general polls.

According to Prof. Yakubu, INEC is concerned about the impact of these factors and is working with other relevant agencies and stakeholders to curb the challenges, particularly, money politics.

“My third area of concern is the influence of money on politics and is becoming more present and the risk is that ours may soon become a plutocracy for the rich rather than a democracy for the people,” he said.

“The way money is exchanging hands is a source of concern, yes, we have collaboration with ICPC and the EFCC and only recently we renewed our collaboration with the EFCC, saying that we are going to do something together.

“However, there are two dimensions to it, when you have willing connectors it becomes a bit more difficult to contain the situation.

“On the one hand, you have brilliant examples, we all saw this on the social media in Anambra when there was an attempt to bribe voters and the women refused to accept the money and voted their conscience.”

Naija News reports the INEC boss made the submission at a one-day colloquium organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Abuja.

Speaking on another solution, Yakubu submitted that “I believe that the antidote to fake news is more real good news, and greater openness and transparency, we will continue to be open and transparent.”