By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
A call has been made for crowd funding of political parties as a way to eliminate godfatherism in Nigerian poliitics.
One-time chairman of the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and now a top chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief (Akogun) Iyiola Oyedepo, made this assertion in Ilorin, the state capital.
He was speaking 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.
Oyedepo said, “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 mobilization. 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 democratizes 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 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, a development which has been the practice since 1999.
He added, “Fund-raising is about selling to the prospective donor your organization’s vision, mandates, programs, 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.”
Oyedepo however asserted that “without money, nobody can make headway in politics.”
