Former Kaduna Central Senator and governorship aspirant, Shehu Sani says he has never bribed any delegate since joining politics.
Sani said the primary election of political parties should be clean and transparent, lamenting that the process has been monetised and corrupt.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain asserted that the monetization of primaries has become the new norm in Nigerian politics.
In an interview with The Punch, Sani said that society cannot have credible and honourable leaders when the process that led to their emergence is corrupt and decadent.
He opined that Nigerians have accepted a corrupt and fraudulent process of governance where people are selected as delegates and paid money to vote for a particular candidate.
The former lawmaker, however, called for the reconfiguration and strengthening of the internal democracy of political parties in the country.
He said: “I am not a new politician and I am not a starter but something I have found out and that has been attacked by the society is the delegate system where delegates bribe delegates to vote for them. A primary, democratic process where leaders emerge should be clean and transparent but what has been going on in the politics of this country is that we have accepted what is wrong, decadent and negative as a political ghost ritual.
“Internal democracy is one of the most important areas of a democracy that needs to be clean and reconfigured. A society cannot have credible and honourable leaders when the process that led to their emergence is corrupt and decadent.
“It appears that we have accepted a corrupt and fraudulent process of governance where people are selected as delegates and paid money to vote for a particular candidate. We are in a situation where hundreds of millions and sometimes billions are spent on a few people for them to elect candidates whom the rest of the public are now being urged to select from.”
Speaking further, Sani stated that he has never given a dime to any delegate to vote for him while he was in the ruling APC and when he contested the PDP governorship primaries.
He said: “I have said before I went to the primaries that I am not going to give a dime to any delegates and they should vote for me based on my credibility, accountability and my agenda for the people of Kaduna state and I stood by my words despite a lot of pressure for me to part with money and give to delegates to get votes.
“But I insisted that I would not do it. We need to have references who are going to revolt against the system to rescue our democracy from being suffocated by moneybags and criminals because the delegate system only makes it possible for moneybags, and god-fathers to impose candidates and have strongholds on our society through the influence of money.
“My experience is well expected, I knew that it was going to be difficult for the delegates to vote for me. But I want a turning point and somebody needs to sacrifice to open up the political space for and clear the corruption that both the ruling and opposition parties have accepted as a norm.”
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