Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
A call has been made that a crowd funding of political parties as a way to eliminate godfatherism in Nigerian politics.
A one-time chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Kwara State, and now a top chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief (Akogun) Iyiola Oyedepo, made this assertion, in Ilorin, the state capital.
Oyedepo said this while presenting a paper titled ‘Fund Raising For Political Purpose’ at the Nations Leadership Institute (NLI) where he is the President on a weekly programme called: ‘Political Dialogue’.
According to him, crowd funding “is a financing method that involves funding a project or idea with relatively modest contributions from a large group of individuals rather than seeking substantial sum from a small number of individuals”.
The ‘Political Dialogue’ is organised by the NLI for over 50 young men and women drawn from the 16 Local Government Areas of Kwara State.
He added, “Crowd funding is a democratic way of financing a political party and it creates sense of ownership and participation of members.
“It is a tool of mobilisation. It causes focused funding and addresses the issues of godfatherism and dictatorship.
“Fund-Raising for political programmes, such as campaign, elections and publicity is a major instrument of “killing” the godfather syndrome in politics.
“It democratises politics and ensures that men and women of merit are promoted for elections.
Crowd-funding should be employed as a new instrument of political freedom and development in all ramifications,” he added.
He, therefore, called and advised leaders of political parties to embrace group fund raising as a way of financing activities of political parties rather than relying on money bags which has been a good experience since 1999.
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He continued, “Fund-Raising is about selling to the prospective donor your organisation’s vision, manifestoes, programmes, budget and ability to carry out the program or project efficiently and effectively.
“Fund raising is a systematic disciplined approach to raising resources from willing supporters.
“It is a means of showing your vision and giving people the possibility of response to the understanding of your vision,” he added.
Oyedepo, however, asserted that “without money, nobody can make headway in politics.”
