The just concluded primaries organized by both the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to pick candidates for 2015 general elections were peaceful in some states; but violence erupted in many others. In Lagos, Oyo, Katsina and Cross River states, the APC gubernatorial primaries were generally peaceful. Violence marred similar exercises conducted by the two parties in Nassarawa, Edo, Rivers, Oyo and Kogi states with some lives lost and properties damaged, in some cases.
In Rivers State, the PDP State House of Assembly primaries ended inconclusive. Dissatisfied aspirants from the state stormed the party’s national secretariat, Abuja on December 3 to protest the conduct of the exercise. One of the aspirants, Mr. Davis Saloka, told journalists in Abuja that they were at the PDP secretariat to kick against the “open robbery perpetrated against us by the party’’. Saloka disclosed that 107 aspirants obtained expression of interest and nomination forms, but that only 32 were whimsically and unfairly cleared to partake in the primaries. Thirteen out of 16 gubernatorial aspirants in Rivers State were also allegedly disqualified in like manner by the party’s South-South Screening Committee. In many PDP states, too, Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, was accused of anointing some aspirants for governorship tickets, a claim the Office of the First Lady has repeatedly denied.
The widespread outbreak of violence during the PDP and APC primaries all over the country does not speak well of a nation whose democracy has been, at best, wobbling for the past 16 years. The root of violence and rancour in political party primaries are the outlandish ambitions of party leaders, who view their political parties as personal estates, and are always at the ‘gates’ to force their choice candidates down the throats of other party members; and possibly the electorate at all levels of governance.
This desperation and shame dog cross across all the registered political parties as aforementioned. Also to be condemned is the high nomination fees they consciously charge aspirants to shrink the political space. Besides, disrespect for the constitution of political parties is another major cause of acrimony during party primaries. But the ultimate appears the huge monetary reward for occupying a political office. Many unscrupulous presidential, gubernatorial, national or state assembly aspirants, for example, who sit back and imagine the out-of-this-world salaries, allowances, paraphernalia of office and power that getting elected would attract could commit any havoc to get to office, especially in a country where the law is treated with utter ignominy. Bogus monetary and other rewards for political office holders, which are clearly far and above what technical core public servants who run the bureaucracy earn, encourage corruption on a large scale and lead to bitter inter and intra-ethnic struggle for power. With majority of Nigerian still living miserably on less than $2 per day, and the negative impact of this widespread poverty on the political process, political seduction through financial and other inducements currently dramatised as “stomach infrastructure”, has become a veritable factor in electoral success in the country.
Not a few Nigerians will be surprised if the candidates that emerged from the latest primaries turn out to be chips of the old block, though the populace is desirous of the contrary. One of the recent American State Department information bulletins on Nigerian politics indicated that in 2011, the ruling PDP emerged as the leading party with 58.8 per cent of votes, followed by the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) 31.98 per cent votes; and former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) 5.41 per cent. However, PDP’s majority diminished after the 2011 election, due to dissatisfaction with the party’s primary elections and nomination processes. The bulletin opined that the PDP lost gubernatorial slots in the South West mainly as a result of the absence of internal party democracy.
In all the chapters of the party nationwide, candidates were allegedly imposed on party members; and in some cases, primaries were either not held or manipulated. This led to a situation where the ACN, with only one governor in the South West between 2003 and 2007, got additional six state governors elected in the 2011 gubernatorial elections.
The political class should learn from the experience of advanced democracies, like Britain and America, where party primaries are usually transparent, free, fair and hitch-free. Party constitutions deserve respect, even from the leaderships. Ultimately, however, the game changer would be massive public enlightenment and political mobilisation, such that will make imposed candidates meet their waterloo in the hands of the electorate during elections proper.
