The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has lamented the negative effect of vote buying which he said has left Nigerians in a state of unmitigated disaster.
Dogara was speaking during a public hearing organized by the National Assembly on improving electoral processes in Nigeria.
The House Speaker attributed the stagnation in democratic practices in the country to the menace of inducement of voters.
He said, “Vote buying and other sundry manipulation of the electoral process in Nigeria, has left our citizens in a state of unmitigated disaster.
“As a result, we have been married off to a mob, a mob that rules us by the example of their power, not by the dictates of law.
“A mob that rules by fiat as an inalienable truth, rather than by courage. A mob that accepts the status quo rather than challenge it.
“Mobs don’t grow others, they only destroy others in order to grow themselves.
“When we follow the mob, we do so because we must, not because we are receiving any sense of significance for our own lives from them.
“Our democracy is stagnated and will sadly, remain so until we eliminate all sharp elections which have the effect of throwing up the worst of us to lead the best of us”.