Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria have demanded candidates for the 2023 General elections in the country must emerge from credible primaries.
“Manipulated and stage-managed primaries remain antithetical to democratic ideals and must be prevented to the barest minimum,” said a coalition of Civil Societies on Sunday in a joint press statement.
“”We thus call on political parties yet to nominate Presidential candidates to ensure they deliver Presidential Conventions that are not free and fair in the theoretical or abstract sense but in terms of intrinsic transparency and accountability in its accreditation, voting, and collation process,” the CSOs said.
The CSOs include YlAGAAfrica, AfriPeace, CISLAC, Transition Monitoring Group, Centre for the Advocacy of Justice and Rights and Women in Nigeria Zero Corruption Coalition.
They condemned the use of money to buy votes by politicians during primaries.
“The so-called ‘dollar rain’ needs to be brought to a definitive end, and delegates sensitized on the necessity of voting their conscience over primordial and pecuniary considerations,” they said.
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