2019: APC claims of 14 million primary voters demeans our political system – Odinkalu

The 2018 edition of New Media, Citizens and Governance Conference opened on Wednesday, October 24 in Abuja

– Speakers from across Africa and beyond are billed to address during the two-day event

– Chidi Odinkalu, a rights advocate who once led Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission delivered the keynote address

Citizens and experts have assessed the important role new media plays in entrenching democratic practices in Nigeria.

They were speaking on Tuesday, October 24, at the New Media, Citizens and Governance (NMCG) conference in Abuja.

In his keynote address, Chidi Odinkalu, the former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), praised the role new media has played in ensuring dissemination of information and demystifying the aura around power.Cross section of participants at the conference. Photo credit: Paradigm Initiative

“The power of new media has made it easy to access the innermost corners of Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja. Places like the Presidential Villa where people are being barred from taking pictures already exist in google maps,” Odinkalu said.

He however warned that, “what people must be careful about is wielding influence on social media without responsibility.”

His words: “Social media is not a place where people take permission to do things. Vitriolic messages that are totally unjust and inexcusable are being pushed on social media.

“There is an assumption that social media is an instrument of transparency. It could be. But it could also be an instrument for obfuscation.

“Those who are being hounded should be defended because if you do not defend those with whom you disagree, then some day it could be your turn.

“The 2019 elections are coming, under which context this event is holding, and things that happen before elections usually predict what would happen after elections.

“We should watch out for violence against women and children in the upcoming elections.

“The analogue space is not happy that there is a new digital space that is picking on those who are carrying out violence against women and children.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that the new media space does not allow violence against women to fester.”

He also talked about the controversial figures churned out by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) after its presidential primary, stressing that the action of the ruling party, is not healthy for the polity.

He said: “The APC has given itself 14 million primary voters. It is nonsensical because it demeans our president, our political system and we should not tolerate that.

“Some people are afraid to say this because a bunch of paid people are going to attack us if we call them out.

“Responsibility has a place in democratic politics. Good manners have a place in democratic politics.

“What has happened with social media is that many of us are running around naked with each other. Some people are okay running naked, but those who were properly brought up should not get involved. Dignity does matter even in the digital age.

“We should make social media a safe place to properly put our narrative for a better cohesion. That for me, and that for us, should be the challenge.”

Speaking during the session titled “Are Elections Won on the Timeline?,” Demola Olarewaju, a digital media expert and member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), considered digital tools as crucial to the success of Nigeria’s democracy, saying, “by leveraging the tools of the internet, we can confront rigging and limit its impact on our elections.”

Sesugh Akume of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) said the Nigerian people can further use the power of social media to “counter the APC-PDP dichotomy that has dominated political discourse in Nigeria. If active Nigerians decide to expand the discussion beyond APC and PDP, they can easily do these with social media.”

Speakers at the conference also spoke about the limitation of social media and the new challenges its deployment has thrown up.

Supported by Facebook, MacArthur Foundation, Luminate & Palladium, the NMCG is a biennial event that was last held in 2016.

The 2-day conference is hosted by Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE), Paradigm Initiative and BudgIT to discuss the theme, “Government, New Media, and Civic Spaces.”

Tope Ogundipe, the director of programs at Paradigm Initiative, said the organisers are pleased with the turnout on the first day of the conference and hope “the conversations will help provide clarity to the issues raised here while also energising citizens to take their role in the democratic process more seriously.”

Meanwhile, political economist and management expert, Professor Patrick Utomi, on Monday, October 15, expressed concern that Nigerian politics if left unchecked would be in danger of being infiltrated by criminals.

Professor Utomi made the comment in Abuja at the High Level Public-Private Sector Forum, with the theme: “Democracy that Delivers.”

His words: “One of the most frustrating things about Nigeria today is that most of those in public offices don’t have the capacity for where they are. There is no talent profile to determine who should be where. Most of them don’t have the foggiest clue what it takes to provide the environment to make the country prosperous.”