The First Lady of Ekiti State, Erelu (Dr.) Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi on Sunday stressed that debates and arguments on social media don’t count as votes on election day.

She made the disclosure on Sunday during a virtual discussion programme hosted by Professor Toyin Falola tagged ‘ A Conversation with Dr. Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, monitored by WuzupNigeria.

Adeleye-Fayemi also spoke about the need to do away with the culture of stomach infrastructure which has been an ongoing issue in the Nigerian political space.

She also urged that electorates need to do away with beliefs that the only way they can engage the political process is through receiving food supplements and money, amongst others from politicians.

She said, “The issue of what has been famously termed as stomach infrastructure which people believe is essential in terms of being able to get support from grassroots communities.

“On the one hand, we cannot continue to allow our people believe that the only way they can engage the politicians or the political process is if there is something that directly benefits them on the spot through a congo of rice, a bag of garri or a wrapper and so on.

“At the same time, we still need to find ways of engaging with those who make up the numbers when we ask people to come out to vote.

“A lot of us have great ideas on social media but our arguments and debate on social media do not translate into votes on election day and so those are still some of the gaps that need to be filled but I believe that every single one of us has a role to play in the political process.

“We need to learn from one electoral cycle to another but sadly we don’t seem to be doing enough of that.”