Balarabe Musa decries voters’ apathy

Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the National Chairman, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, has decried the high level of voters’ apathy in Nigeria.
Musa made this known in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja.
Musa said: “Voters’ apathy is due to peoples’ lack of confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process.”
He said for voters’ apathy to be reduced, the power bestowed on the Independent National Electoral Commission must be checked.
He said: “It is the fear of injustice that brings about apathy.
“If INEC wins the confidence of Nigerians and politicians, then apathy will be removed.”
Musa, who also expressed concern on money politics syndrome, said, however, that the trend would be a thing of the past if money stopped being the deciding factor during elections.
He said: “What matters most during election is for candidates to clearly spell out their manifestoes.
“The leadership of political parties must also be self reliant, they must organise themselves well and understand that money politics is not even in their own interest.”
Musa called on politicians to have credible standards, which would enable them remove the deciding role of money in politics.
He urged the States Independent Electoral Commissions to be transparent in the conduct of their local government council polls.
He said political parties boycotted local council elections because they knew that they would be rigged in favour of the ruling party in the state.
He said: “Often, people are left with two alternatives: either to boycott or disrupt elections.
“This is why some political parties consider boycotting elections more patriotic and peaceful than disrupting elections.”