A civil society organisation with special focus on parliamentary activities, Order Paper Advocacy Initiatives, has revealed that only 0.3 percent of candidates seeking election into the National Assembly have indebt knowledge of what the parliament does.
According statistics by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a total of 4,223 candidates across the political parties will Saturday, be seeking election to occupy the 469 seats in both chambers of the National Assembly.
Speaking on the coming general elections and the preparedness of Nigerians Thursday, executive director of Order Paper, Mr. Oke Epia, said the discovery was fall-out of its engagements with intending candidates across the country.
“We have candidates who did not articulate what they intend to do. The fact is that we have been tracking these candidates and its disheartening to inform you that most of them do not know why they are coming to the National Assembly. All of these candidates, like 0.3% understand what the legislature does.
“When candidates begin to say, I will alter the Abuja master plan and so on and so forth. That’s why we decided to come and share this data with you, to give the citizens an informed decision on who to vote for.There is an increased appetite by citizens to vote and they are not appropriately directed on the legislative elections.
“In each of the six electoral cycles leading to the election of lawmakers who have served in these assemblies, we have observed as a legislative-focused organisation that many at times, the majority of the lawmakers who have served in the various assemblies we mentioned earlier, emerge through a bandwagon effect. This trend, to a large extent, sacrifices merit for party considerations, especially as the National Assembly elections hold simultaneously with the highly-anticipated presidential elections,” he said.
Beyond the political drama that may characterise the elections, Epi tasked the media to help citizens make informed decision, by holding the lawmakers accountable.
Also lending his voice, Mr. basset Bassey of the HipCity Media, stated that “City residents should have enough knowledge on whom to vote. They need to know the people they are sending to the National Assembly to represent them.
“People must be elected on the basis of individual merits instead of following bandwagon effect,” Senior Programme Executive, OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, Mr Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq also said in his submission.