Matthew Kukah, the Catholic bishop of Sokoto, says the country’s political system is lucrative, which is why candidates want to win elections at all costs.
Kukah had this to say on Wednesday during a live television show.
He also said that the violence associated with elections is not unreasonable from the reward system associated with politics.
“It is the reward system in the political system that encourages violence, because if you see the almost automatic change in the quality of life and the opportunities that come to people who are holding public office or who win elections, you realize that the rewards are a Zero Sum Game. To be out as someone said you lose the election you might actually lose your life.
“So to the extent that we have a political system that rewards you directly, for example, if you voted for the wrong candidate, you may not have a path to your town; you may not have electricity in your village; you may not have drinking water.
“So the consequences of this create despair among Nigerians that our man or our woman must win at all costs.
“Otherwise, if politics were just about service, we wouldn’t have needed to fight about service. So all these people telling you ‘vote for us, we’ll work for you,’ history suggests something different,” Kukah said.