Mr Toyin Raheem, Social Democratic Party (SDP) House of Assembly candidate in Agege area of Lagos, has urged politicians not to restrict themselves to winning elections alone.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos, Raheem said that any political party that restricted its role to only winning elections would fail.
“ Political parties should have programmes that will impact positively in every sphere of people’s live.
“Any political party that restricts its role to only winning elections is already a failure.
“In 1993, former Governor Lateef Jakande did not use posters and flyers to win his second term in office.
“ His unrivaled achievements were his posters and his positive influence on peoples lives gave him victory without any campaign,’’ Raheem said.
The SDP candidate noted that candidates of some political parties have printed posters and billboards worth millions of naira all in a bid to win elections.
According to him, all these are not yardstick to winning election but a sign of poor performance.
He also cautioned political parties against rash and extreme behaviour toward political opponents.
Raheem said: “ All parties are relevant; no party is irrelevant so long as the party is reckoned in many areas.
“Only parties dominated by retrogressive elements will engage in thuggery and intimidation of other parties.
“The law that allows multi party system in Nigeria recognises the need for fair competition.
“Also, we have seen relevance of political parties from multi-party system in the United States, United Kingdom and in India’’.