BY WALE AKINOLA

President Goodluck Jonathan has been asked to strengthen democratic institutions in the country.
A former acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Pastor Power Aginighan, on the occasion of his 55th birthday, yesterday, made the call, saying “While I commend the President’s avowed commitment to one man, one vote as re-echoed in his 2014 New Year message to Nigerians, I wish to seize this auspicious occasion to appeal to Mr President to strengthen democratic institutions.

“An agency that is particularly relevant to our quest for a truly democratic Nigeria is the National Orientation Agency.”
He  lamented that despite the posturing of Nigeria’s political parties as democratic or progressive, none of them practises internal democracy in the conduct of their congresses from ward to national convention.

“None of them is democratic and none is progressive. All of them have been hijacked by very powerful individuals, who determine who should be party officers or candidates for elective offices. As long as after every election in Nigeria, losers head to election tribunals to protest outcomes of elections lost largely because they were out-rigged by opponents; as long as some electoral officers can, with impunity, declare result for elections not held, we are far from being a democratic nation,” he said.