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President Muhammadu Buhari recently met with the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and requested that he should be supported to choose his successor. According to the President, “in keeping with the established internal policies of the party and as we approach the Convention in a few days, I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.”
The President argued that the APC had successfully established internal policies that promoted continuity and smooth succession plans, even at the state and local government levels. He cited the example of first term governors who had been encouraged to stand for re-election for serving credibly well. Second term governors, he added, had been accorded the privilege of promoting successors that were capable of driving their visions, as well as the ideals of the party. Hence, Buhari appealed to the governors “to allow our interests to converge.”
On paper, the president’s request may appear innocuous. But a critical look at it shows that it is not in line with democratic ethos. It also manifests lack of internal democracy in the ruling party. Primary election is a process whereby aspirants test their popularity with the people. It is not meant for one man, no matter how highly placed, to hijack and choose whoever he likes. Assuming that the governors grant Buhari’s request, how will the party justify selling expression of interest and nomination forms at a humongous amount of N100 million to over 20 aspirants?
Will this not amount to promotion of a feudal system, which should have no place in a democracy? It is very dictatorial and undemocratic for one man to wish to select who will be the president of a country. The request is not altruistic and it is capable of ruining the chances of the ruling party in the 2023 polls.
Already, the request has unsettled some members of the party. For instance, a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, Salihu Lukman, described the President’s appeal as undemocratic. In an open letter to Buhari, Lukman said the temptation for leaders to choose their successors was democratically risky and very costly.
The attempt by leaders to select their successors is not new in our democracy. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo did a similar thing. In his own case, Obasanjo did not beg his party men as Buhari has done. He bulldozed his way and foisted the late Umaru Yar’Adua on the nation. This was despite the fact that Yar’Adua was unhealthy at the time. As soon as Yar’Adua became President, the enormity of the work as president weighed on him. He was frequently in and out of hospital and eventually died after a few years in office.
That is the problem of laying a bad precedent. In the history of our democracy, leaders who went out of their way to install their puppets as successors eventually end up falling out with them. In Anambra State, former governor Chris Ngige had a godfather who made the state ungovernable for him because he did not share the state resources with him.
Granted that a leader should be interested in who succeeds him, but the way and manner our president is going about it is troubling. He should have silently lobbied for his choice without necessarily inserting it in his public address to the governors. His public request is neither in the best interest of the country nor our democracy.
It is instructive that the President noted in his address that the key to electoral successes of the APC in 2015 and 2019 was cohesive machinery and the ability of the party to hold consultations. He added that members put the interests of the nation above other interests. Ironically, his submission above is not in tandem with his request to produce the standard-bearer of the ruling party. Even his emergence as the candidate of the APC in 2015 and 2019 was not made possible by one individual.
The president should be reminded that he had promised to bequeath a legacy of free and transparent election to Nigeria. What he has done is a negation of that promise. A free and transparent electoral system starts with the primary election. It is our wish that he allows the process to flourish. He should stand as an unbiased umpire.
Nigeria is bigger than any individual. Currently, the country is like a football club on relegation. It needs the best strikers to lift it out of relegation. In other words, we need to put our best foot forward. The President should not meddle in the selection process of APC presidential candidate. The APC leadership should be courageous enough to allow a level playing field for all the aspirants. We must get our electoral process right this time or risk inflicting a long-lasting injury on our still wobbling democracy. The President should allow the APC to choose its candidate through the prescribed parameters.
