Director at the Institute of the Commonwealth, jurist, political economist, strategist, and policy analyst, Prof. Anthony Kila, has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to mandate political parties to have well-trained psychiatrists among them as part of ongoing electoral reforms.
According to him, what transpired at the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP on Tuesday demonstrates the need for political parties to involve psychiatrists. Turaki’s faction clashed with the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, while attempting to hold important meetings in the same facility, causing chaos in the area.
The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, claimed that he and his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde, were teargassed during the incident. After normalcy was restored, the recently elected National Chairman of the party, Tanimu Turaki, assumed office at the Secretariat, accompanied by the two state governors, Bala Mohammed and Seyi Makinde.
“I understand this morning that a lot of psychiatrists are not where they ought to be. It might be a good idea that INEC should include a law to say that every party should have an in-house psychiatrist to deal with issues of the party as well,” he said on Arise News’ The Morning Show.
Prof. Kila added, “What we saw there is a show of shame in terms of form and process. The content can be legitimate, but it underlines a flaw in the Nigerian partisan political elite class. Normally, political parties are made up of people of like minds who are bound together by a common, shared purpose. The fact that these people can deploy police officers, shout, shove, and resort to expelling and fighting one another shows you they’re not like minds. They’re not friends, they’re not peers. There are people there to grab power, and this, I must say, today, is the PDP. It could be anybody tomorrow. I see that most partisan, most political parties in Nigeria share these uncivilized, unbecoming, uninspiring traits, and I think we need to look at it as a system problem, not just as a PDP problem.”
Prof. Kila’s statement highlights the need for systemic reforms in Nigerian political parties to ensure discipline, order, and mental health support within their ranks.
