Nigerian politicians have been enjoined to imbibe sportsmanship attitude and that parties should use the convention system of the Republican and Democrat parties to unveil new and young leaders ahead of the nation’s election.
These were part of the submissions of analysts on our weekend show, Sunrise which sought to discuss lessons learnt from the just concluded presidential election in the United States.
According to a former Nigerian Consular-General to the US, Ambassador Joe Keshi, “Nigerian political parties must re-strategise their conventions to discover and unveil young leaders because the current crop of political leaders will soon expire.
He also called for the nation’s political system to encourage volunteerism amongst young people, which he claimed is always responsible for the successful conduct of the US elections.
“These young people drive the campaigns and voters turn out as well as inspire the elected leaders to perform. That was what led Obama to cry, whilst addressing staff of his campaign office.”
Another guest, Mr Femi Ajayi; a former Executive Director with the Office of the Secretary of State, Atlanta, Georgia, urged Nigerian politicians to be sportsmanship and accept defeat to enhance development rather than political dog-fighting.
Calls were also made for the demystification of public offices which they noted has grown to become the most lucrative venture in the country.
On E-voting and voting by the Nigerian diaspora, Ambassador Keshi opined that we should first fix our election process properly before considering diaspora election while Mr Ajayi desires an appropriate and efficient Power Holding Company of Nigeria before E-voting comes to fore.
