Campaigns taken over by insults, lies – Obasanjo

A former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said political campaigns in Nigeria have been taken over by insults, lies and selfish interests.

Obasanjo said this in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, yesterday, while delivering a keynote address tagged ‘Respecting the principles of democracy’ at an international conference with the theme, “Deepening democratic culture and institutions.”

The former president said critical issues have been discarded as intellectuals and technocrats have been sidelined while minions, gate keepers and job hunters take over the campaign and build iron-rings around candidates at all levels. 

He said, “The constitution of the country provides the foundations that guide political activities.  Democracy equally enables political actors to engage each other within set rules.

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“But when actors confuse the beginning with the end, or adopt the infamous Machiavellian dictum that the end justifies the means, they get set for a race without boundaries, with no rules or where anything goes. 

“The norms of politics and political competition get imprisoned as the actors invent new rules of engagement as they go along and seek to outdo one another in non-beneficial issues to the ordinary citizen.

“We fail to understand that democracy is not a one shot game. It is evolutionary and it takes time to ground the practice. 

“It is not for quick change and indeed, if we play by the rules, we would all realise that regimes or governments can change, but the tenets remain constant. 

“We would not be so bitter with election results or overload the courts with litigations, very many of which are like ‘try your luck.’”