PDP ACCUSES APC FOR SQUANDERING N3.6BN ON CONVENTION
PDP ACCUSES APC FOR SQUANDERING N3.6BN ON CONVENTION
By:
Nurudeen Dauda
June 28, 2018
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In my view, for we to get it right, our political parties' "Finance Model" in the country must be changed. If truth be told, all political parties with power in the country are guilty of using public funds for party activities . Let's not forget that some politicians are presently facing trials on the allegations of using funds meant for security purposes for electioneering campaigns. In my understanding, Party activities are "personal" and or "private" matters of politicians not "public". Public funds should not be used to finance party activities.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the 24 state Governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for diverting the sum of N3.6bn of public funds by contributing the sum of N150m each to its just concluded National Convention. -(Daily Trust, June 28, 2018).
It was alleged that all Ruling party's activities at the National level from 1999 to 2015 were usually being bankrolled by the Presidency. President Buhari upon his assumption of office in 2015 made it clear that, he would not use state resources to fund his party's activities. In addition, he told the party's leadership to source for their independent funds in order to run its affairs.
It was alleged that, the party's state governors were said to be the ones who sponsored party's activities since the party did not get proper funding from the central government as was the usual tradition in the country. Some people argued that, It was why the party under Chief John Odigie Oyegun was very soft to state governors. It is often said: "He who pays the piper dictates the tune".
However, It is important to note that, the entrenched tradition of funding parties with state resources is unconstitutional. State governors control enormous resources of their respective states. This is perhaps, why governors are very powerful in Nigerian politics. We must rescue our respective political parties from the sole financing of state governors.
In my view, for us to get it right, we must not leave political party finance to state governors who allegedly use state resources to their parties. All stakeholders should and or must be involved in party finance for us to get it right or else we should just forget it. We must device a means where all and sundry irrespective of their economic status will contribute to its finances through regular payments of membership dues and other legitimate means.
Political parties in Nigeria should borrow a leaf from the Financing Model of political parties in advanced democracies as a means of ensuring their independence and supremacy.
In my humble suggestion, all Political parties should have their Business Wings as a way of generating income for their activities. Let's have Political Parties with Corporate Businesses ; such as : Hotels , Fuel stations ,Newspapers, Airlines, Commercial Buses, Poultry /Fish farms, Bakery, Soft drinks companies,Table and Sachet water, Wrapper, and clothes businesses etc. This will make the parties financially independent and will create jobs to the people.
The issue at hand, whether allegation or real, In my view, all political parties in power are culprits in the areas of using state resources to fund parties' activities . We must not legitimize the use of public funds for party activities simple because the major political parties in the country partake in it. Let's stop it! Let's all repent.
May God bless Nigeria!