Socio-cultural organization, Middle Belt Forum (MBF), has faulted Nigeria’s democracy and the capacity of the nation’s National Assembly.

Naija News reports that MBF’s National Publicity Secretary, Isuwa Dogo, said electoral malpractice, corrupt judicial system and poor representation from the legislature showed the nation’s democracy is yet to work.

In an interview with Daily Independent, Dogo noted that the nation’s electoral system, including internal party politics, has robbed citizens of the right to elect their leaders.

“I’m not sure if we’re practising democracy in Nigeria. There’s hardly anything that’s not influenced in one form or the other, directly or indirectly. All elections, right from the councillorship at the local government to the presidency.

“In one form or the other, some­body, somewhere, a party, a group, an individual, a tribe, a religious organisation, and people with different interests will try to influ­ence it. You’ll also discover that if it’s democracy, it wouldn’t be that almost every single election ends up in the court.

“At no point has the court re­versed some of them or most of the very important ones, like the governorship, the senatorial, and the presidency. No matter how manipulated it might have been, the court will still say the person was duly elected.

“So, it’s either the court is being induced criminally to give their verdict, or they just don’t want to waste their time to do the right thing.

“Another aspect is that from the primaries, people spend so much money to buy off the delegates.

“They’re voting for people who are the highest bidders. So right from the very councillorship to the highest level, the presidency,” Dogo said.

The Middle Belt Forum Spokesman decried the mass defection of politicians to the All Progressives Congress (APC). This, he said, could be to protect themselves from trial for corrupt practices, citing statement of former Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole.

Dogo stressed that politicians who defect to other parties should be made to lose their offices. He said the law has to be reviewed to address the wave of defections.

“Like this gale of defections, when Ad­ams Oshiomhole was APC na­tional chairman, would say if you come to APC, your sins are forgiven. That is to say, no matter how corrupt you are, if you go to the APC, there’s nobody that will touch you.

“But the most interesting aspect should have been that if you defect, you lose your position. Because you contested on the plat­form of the party. But that is not the case now,” he stated.

He further lambasted the National Assembly for failing to be true representatives of the citizens.

“I think the National Assem­bly doesn’t even exist any longer. Because the whole beauty of the National Assembly is to represent the people.

“Do they represent the people? Tell me one single bill they have sponsored in the advent of this very government.

“When it comes to political issues, there’s really no judiciary. You know, why? Because it’s the executive that elects the judiciary,” he noted.

Dogo added that Nigeria’s de­mocracy needs urgent help if it must survive, including ensuring that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is independent and officials are not appointed by the president.