Robert Clarke, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has called for a return to the parliamentary form of government in the country, stating that the common man is not getting the benefits of democracy.
Speaking in an interview with a national newspaper,. Clarke argued that it would be difficult for Nigeria to make any headway with the current system of government.
His words: “We need to change the system. For instance, I’m saying now that maybe we need to begin to have independent candidates because where a system of governance is dictated by a small circle of 20- or 30-party members, who will sit down and determine who is going to be the next governor and who has to be the next Speaker.
“All these things are being determined by the political class by themselves and not by the people. That system is what we’re doing today. The political system in Nigeria today is very faulty.
“Faulty in the sense that it has shifted back from the people’s hands into a class of people and before you can get into that class, you might have spent a lot of money.
“Therefore, money is the number one problem that we have. To be in a class of the system that would improve the life of a common man, you would spend a lot of money and when you get there, the first thing you want to do is to recover the money you have spent.
He stated that with the situation on ground, Nigeria will continue moving in one circle “and one circle alone.”
“The common man is not getting the benefits of democracy, the rich are getting richer and the politicians are dominating in all aspects of our lives.
“So, we have to improve the system of governance. Number one, we have to allow for independent candidates to fit into our system of governance because if we allow the parties to dictate, the parties will meet in the board rooms and those of us outside the board rooms will not have a say in what goes on.
“So, my view is that Nigeria should change its system of governance,” he concluded.
