Political parties in Nigeria are the only constitutionally recognized vessels for vying for political offices. This shows the rationale behind the continuous struggle that goes on in the various political parties. There is no alternative for the aspirants than this. Strangely, when these agitations take place, they should and must not be mistaken for interest in good governance of the country but simply struggle for power among the ignoble gladiators. The most virulent periods in the various political parties are usually during the election of the members of the executive arm of the party that will conduct the party primaries to nominate candidates to contest the general election, and actually during the conduct of the party primaries to nominate such candidates. Thus, as the law stands today, an aspirant must inevitably be a member of a political party to enable him contest an election. The political parties in Nigeria are registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and only these licensed political organizations can sponsor candidates for election and canvass for votes.
It is consequent upon this constraint of the political space that in-fighting becomes the order of the day in the various political parties. As such, it is no news that irregularities and improprieties permeate the management and operation of the various political parties. In recent times, the trend is the hijack of the political parties by a few powerful ones within the parties, largely due to their financial influence and coercive powers. This clique constitutes itself into a cabal that is notoriously known today as godfathers who terrorize and oppress the vulnerable party members. It is in order to tame their influence that a lot of ordinarily needless statutory interventions were made, particularly through the Electoral Act, Regulations and Guidelines. The recent attempt at restricting the nomination process to direct primaries is another attempt at curtailing the excesses of these godfathers by the National Assembly. Regrettably, through the godfathers’ ( governors) powerful machinations, they succeeded in thwarting that effort.
This is not to say, however, that the legislators themselves meant well; but were forced to toe that direction because of the oppressive tendencies of their governors who already constituted themselves into godfather only to sustain their selfish survival desire. The situation in the various political parties has degenerated so badly that hardly can a neophyte or stranger to the clique make any headway in the political party without worshiping these idols. This reminds me of what My Lord of the Supreme Court, Ngwuta, JSC (of blessed memory), once said in the case of C.P.C. v. Ombugadu [2013] 18 NWLR, (Part 1385) p. 66 @ – 130, paras F-E, “…It is apparent that a few powerful elements therein hijack the parties and arrogated to themselves right to sell elective and appointive positions to the party member who can afford same….There is popular saying that politics is a dirty game . I do not share this view. It is the players who are dirty and they inflict their filth on their members and, by implication on the society. Politicians must learn to play the game of politics in strict compliance with its rules of organized society.”
This great admonition has been more honoured in breach than observance by these unscrupulous set of people alluded to by My Noble Lord. It is this recklessness and ignominy by the politicians in the political parties that has led to the call for independent candidacy. In two previous exercises in the constitutional amendment process, the National Assembly passed the draft bill enabling independent candidacy but the ‘bold’ efforts were thwarted by the governors through their Houses of Assembly. Hence, till date, no progress has been made in that regard. Now, coming to party primaries which is the means through which nomination of party candidates are made, by the Electoral Act of the country today, there are three modes of determining the party standard bearers. The first of the modes is what is known as direct primaries which involves the participation of all the registered members of the party in the choice of the political party’s candidates. The second option is tagged ‘indirect primaries’ and it is a process in which delegates elected by the registered members of a political party determine the party’s candidates.
In other words, the registered members at a congress elected delegates who will ultimately elect the party candidates. It is a sort of electoral college system. It is instructive to note that the delegates to finally elect the candidates must be elected for that singular purpose. Hence, the practice of using members of the executive or delegates elected for other purposes contravenes the political party’s constitution and therefore unlawful. Summarily, therefore, indirect primary is a two-tier process as opposed to the direct mode that is singular. The final choice of the political party in the nomination process is what is dubbed ‘consensus’. This is a process that involves all the relevant stakeholders in the political party, sitting together as a body and conceding the ticket by amicable resolution to a particular candidate. It is instructive to note that it cannot be said to be a consensus where there is divergence, even if it be one. In most of the political parties’ constitutions, even where there is consensus, affirmation of the process through the congress or convention will still be required. In all of these, particularly the direct and indirect modes, credible membership register is indispensable.
This woefully is lacking in most of these political parties and gives room to the manipulation of the process. That explains why a candidate will, at the primary, score an amazing figure and at the general election score a ridiculously low figure. Fraud upon fraud, you say! From the foregoing, it is obvious that the party members, expectedly, are to play a significant and crucial role in the nomination of candidates. Again, sadly, this is hardly so. Assuming without conceding, however, that the registered party members do, they do so largely ignorantly. As known, most of the political parties are populated by ignorant and vulnerable people who hardly know their rights from left. They know not the rationale for their choice nor even, at times, the person they are voting for. This is how disastrous the situation is. These are miserable people, the hoi polloi, the flotsam and jetsam of the society, that are often exploited recklessly as their mental faculties have been sapped by poverty, ignorance and misgovernance.
Our past has shown that this class of the vulnerable is the one that foists useless and incompetent “rulers” on the country. I have always advocated the need for the few enlightened ones in the parties to engage in aggressive education and enlightenment of these ignorant and vulnerable members. They must be assisted to know the criteria to apply in the making of their choices. The informed members need to help them understand the nexus between their votes and their lives. It will be noticed that I have avoided using the words ‘educated’ and ‘elites’, as those words do not equate to being ‘informed’. This is a way to guarantee that they vote qualitatively. This brings me to the core of this discussion which is the availing of political party members the opportunity of knowing the potential candidates.
By this I mean that the political parties need to provide avenues for party members to know who the various aspirants are before the eventual primaries. Where the party leadership is unwilling to provide this platform, other stakeholders can make this happen. It is not an exclusive right of the leaders who, most times, are compromised.
The necessity for this engagement is compelling as I watch various presidential aspirants journey the country all over in a carnival-like manner of rented crowd, most times without any concrete message to Nigerians. I am, therefore, suggesting to the political parties that rather than wait till the elective congresses or conventions to expose the aspirants to the party electorate, a day prior to that must be set aside for the purpose of such interaction.
If the parties like, let it be dubbed “Aspirant’s night or day”. This platform will help open the minds of the party electorate to the strength and weaknesses of the various aspirants. It is not a platform for “blowing grammar” as all conversations and presentations shall be substance based.. This then eliminates the alleged blind voting they do. This is the avenue for the aspirants to present their understanding of governance and the programs they have for the people. This avenue will help to sift the genuine aspirants from the masqueraders and dealers. Through it, the party electorate can decipher the good from the bad; the cerebral, focused, visionary ones from the ‘money bags’. All efforts must be made to de-emphasize money politics in the country. It continues to quake the country which cannot afford the emergence of another catastrophic and calamitous leader.
The significance of this proposition lies in the need to avoid another affliction of bad leadership in the country. I personally suspect that this is the last chance for Nigeria as a country. The implication for us all not paying attention to the emergence of candidates in the various political parties is the unleashing of charlatans, imbeciles and dealers on the nation. The narratives go thus; if PDP offers a candidate that is an idiot, APC provides a candidate that is a buffoon, and APGA sponsors a candidate that is a nincompoop, the general electorate will not have a choice than to vote for one of them. This will be the predicament of us if we are nonchalant as regards the quality of the potential sponsored candidates of the political parties. The reverse is where we ensure the emergence of quality candidates in all the political parties and there is any form of electoral manipulation and rigging, the country will not be much short changed. It is against this background that I pray that in the absence of independent candidacy, we may have no choice than to join a political party or another, not necessarily to contest an election but to influence the nomination process and tilt same in favour of a quality candidate. Let me, therefore, conclude with the Yoruba aphorisms that say ina esi kii jo’ni ni eemeji (you don’t mistakenly get burnt twice) and ojo ti a ba ri’bi, ni ibi nwole (it is the day an evil is detected that it is supposed to be stifled). Afflictions must not rise again in this nation. Ire o!