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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 organised 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 should not be open for discussion or debate when it happens,” he said, adding that election fraud should often be penalised rather than rewarded.

“These are necessary for political integrity.” He added.

He clarified that opposition parties need to understand that, despite the fact that the governing party may be unpopular and the public may be tired of it, it is very tough to overthrow it.

“Coalition-building and outright mergers are critical for building the capacity of the opposition to achieve that goal. Our own history and examples from other countries prove that,” he added.

He maintained that the survival of democracy depends on the presence of powerful political parties, particularly opposition parties.

“Parties need to be strong and democratic enough to be able to fulfil their roles. Ownership of parties by or their subordination to individual big men is the antithesis of democracy.

“Party supremacy is critical. But party supremacy can’t be achieved through the current funding model for our parties”

He said that funding by a small group of affluent people and governors is not a democratic paradigm.

“As we know, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. Funding must be democratised. Members must invest in and co-own parties.

“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 everyone to contribute to financing their political decisions.

“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.

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