As Nigerians elect 469 members for both the Red and Green chambers of the of the National Assembly today, a civil society group, OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative and partners, have advised Nigerians to avoid a bandwagon effect election and vote for competent candidates.
Addressing a press conference at the House of Representatives Press Center, its director, Oke Epia, said merit and competence were being sacrificed in electing members of the National Assembly as a result of popularity of party’s presidential candidates.
He said they had carried out researches and studies on the trend and found out that such trend was having negative effect on the performance of National Assembly members regarding their legislative responsibilities.
According to him, Nigerians are more fixated on presidential candidates of parties during elections, a situation that leads to “blind voting patterns along party lines while sacrificing quality of candidates.”
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“In no small measure, this has affected the quality of representation in each assembly and also prevented effective service delivery,” he said.
Epia said the legislature played a crucial role in the sustenance of democracy, and as such, the electorate must choose competent people to carry out such duties.
On his part, the senior programme executive, OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq, advised Nigerians to vote for competent candidates and not on the basis of party or popularity of presidential candidates.
