By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Leadership and Entrepreneurship Advocacy (LEAD) Network, a non-governmental organization, has called on Nigerians to brace-up to demand democratic accountability from elected political leaders.

Executive Director of LEAD Network, Mr. Chukwuma Okenwa, made the call while speaking with newsmen in Enugu on Saturday on why Nigerians had not benefited maximally from democracy after 21 years.

Okenwa noted that democracy is people-driven and the people should as well derive maximal benefit from it and not the other way round, which is autocracy.

According to him, it is quite wrong and sad that the lackadaisical attitude most Nigerians, I mean the electorate, show to political issues especially elections.

The executive director noted that in Africa generally, where institutions are weak; politics and policies made by politicians control other aspects of the people’s national life.

He said that “it is high time electorates become active participants in the entire electoral process, which will help to check the excess of the political class and hold them accountable. Nigerians must wake up and start demanding accountability as well as result-oriented and people-orient leadership across the board. Nigerians, I mean the electorates, must do proper background check on each aspirant or candidate before giving the person his/her vital vote. Since voting is per head. This will stop charlatans from seizing power any longer at any level of governance.

“The current sycophancy and praise-singing for politicians should stop. When a politician uses public fund to deliver projects for the people, it is his/her sole responsibility and right thing to do so as far as he/she is willingly representing the people.

“When an elected representative is not doing well according to term of his office and resources; our people should seize available avenues to register their displeasure and disappoint over his conduct. Such individual should not be given public accolades, praise-singing and if possible he or she should be openly shamed in public,” he said.

Okenwa said that the electorates should stop complaining but rather do the needful for their elected representatives to sit-up and deliver on democratic dividends.

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