The Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Audu Ogbeh has come out blunt: That political parties in Nigeria are not functioning compared to their counterparts in other countries.
Ogbeh who spoke with journalists in Kaduna on Wednesday said that political parties in the country should have public platforms for assessing elected officials.
The former Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture recalled how he held such conference as chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power.
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He noted that political parties need to wake up and hold their members to account so Nigeria can be well governed.
The astute politician said in the current APC manifesto, he included a clause that there must be a party conference once a year, where the party puts the President or Governor on a chair and ask him to account for his governance.
Ogbeh said, “Our political parties are not functioning. I was the only party chairman in Nigerian history who called a party conference once, where former President Olusegun Obasanjo came to address the party.
“We debated his speech and made comments about areas of weakness and strength.
“In the current APC manifesto, I included a clause that there must be a party conference once a year, where the party puts the President or Governor on a chair and ask him to account for his governance.
“A situation where parties just elect people and say nothing to them again till the next election, where we are all cringing and crawling for party positions and contracts is not running a democracy.”
The former Minister also noted that in advanced democracies like the UK and the US, party conferences are held regularly to assess the performance of elected office holders.
Insisting that these conferences should also include Governors, Ogbeh further stated that parties in these democracies are accountable to the people.
He said, “We have no roads, no water, you’re not paying salaries. What is the problem? Tell us. Otherwise, don’t tell us next time to vote for you or to campaign for you.”
