Nigeria Content Online

Free and fair
elections will elude the nation should political office holders
continue to depend on public funds for electioneering activities, the
national chairman of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Ogbonnaya
Onu has said.

Mr Onu, who made
the remarks during a visit by a delegation of the National democratic
Institute (NDI) to the ANPP’s national secretariat, yesterday in Abuja,
said the act gives undue advantage to candidates who are still
occupying public offices.

“Like in the US, if
the president or a governor is going on any function that is not purely
for the benefit of the state; maybe it is for personal or political
purpose, such a leader will not use public fund. This is not what is
happening here and if election must be free and fair, you must have a
level playing field for everybody,” he said.

“This is very
disturbing because money was being freely given while on the queue in
the last election, especially in the South-East and South-South, which
is against the law. And quite often, this money is public fund which
should have been used for the development of the country.”

Speaking further on
last Saturday’s election, he said the party is worried that the
government is yet to organise elections that can really be said to be
free and fair in the country going by the party’s experience.

“The pre-election
conditions are very important because if you have so much insecurity
leading to intimidation, harassment, then you create a situation where
people will be afraid to participate fully in the process,” Mr Onu
said. “We had instances of a lot of insecurity before and during the
election itself. The level of insecurity is very worrisome even though
it has reduced.”

Objective report

Mr Onu urged the
NDI to ensure that its preliminary and final reports of election
monitoring exercise were objectively carried out to gain the public
trust.

The leader of the
delegation and former Prime Minister of Canada, Joe Clark, promised
that the institute will be impartial in its report, adding that it will
release an interim report on the presidential report next Monday.

“We will be objective,” Mr Clark said.