Abbas said this in Abuja, in his keynote address at a technical workshop on Political Parties Bill, organised by the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) for House Committee on Political Party Matters.
The News Agency of Nigeria NAN) reports that the workshop was organised in collaboration with the YIAGA Africa and the Kukah Centre.
Abbas, represented by Mr Ishaya Lalu, said even though Nigeria practiced the same presidential system as the US, the registration and regulation of political funding made a huge difference between them.
“In the USA, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulates campaign finance and oversees aspects of party registration.
“In the United Kingdom, the Electoral Commission oversees party registration, campaign finance, and the electoral process.
“Sweden also has a well-established agency for party registration and party finance regulations,” he said
According to him, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has the power to register political parties and conduct elections, but there is a need to do beyond this.
`For instance, some political party funding in Nigeria is taken over by wealthy individuals as investments,
” Investments were made, either as businessmen or politicians to hijack the political parties and impose candidates on the parties during the electoral process.” he said .
The speaker noted that the political parties lacked principle or ideology, compared to their contemporary in advanced democracy.
Abbas also said people who believe in the ideology of political parties had no reason to run from one party to another.
“In developed democracies, such as the United States of America, India, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, members of political parties were known for their steadfastness in promoting the principles and ideologies of their parties,’’ he said.
He noted that in the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party, founded in 1834, had continued to advance the party’s ideology over the centuries, “even when it is out of power.’
“However, in Nigeria, the reverse was the case.
“We must admit that the political parties in Nigeria are not founded on any principle or ideology, the attitude and performance of the parties indicate clearly that lacked the fundamentals,’’ he said.
The speaker noted that the Political Parties Bill presently before the National Assembly, would promote party independency and public trust in political parties.
“The Bill is seeking for an Act to provide for the establishment of an independent authority for the registration, regulation and funding of political parties in Nigeria and related matters,
“The bill would promote transparency and accountability, separate the regulatory function from government control.
” The bill, when passed into law, would domicile party regulation in an independent body that would not be partisan in holding political parties accountable for things like campaign financing and the sources.
“It is expected to promote public trust in party system and improve governance as the people will become reasonable funders and tackle corruption,’’ he said.
Chairman, House Committee on, Zakari Nyampa, said that the bill was key as it looked into regulating the political party, the funding, accountability, transparency.
Nyampa expressed confidence that the bill, sponsored by the Speaker of house of representative would secure the needed support.
“As the country is trying to improve on democracy, this bill is very important, as well as the workshop,’’ Nyampa said.(NAN)
