THE LESSONS from the party primaries season is that democracy and ethical political behavior have been deleted from the Nigerian political system. INEC had imposed a narrow timeline insisting all primaries be concluded by 30th May. This was challenged and a court judgement from the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Mohammad G. Umar, sitting in Abuja, nullified INEC’s deadline.
Given the fear of possible judicial consequences, the major parties felt it was safer to comply with INEC deadline because they appealed and Nigerians know the courts. Following the provisions in the new Electoral Act, primaries were conducted either through consensus or direct elections. Consensus in Nigerian political language means imposition. The boss decides who the consensus is.
The political party primaries are enough reasons for concern and anxiety about the forthcoming elections. The political parties showed absolute disregard to party members. Only the president, state governors and party godfathers mattered. A significant part of the political class has been played out and they feel cheated, bitter and betrayed.
Direct primaries in law means all party members have the right to vote for the candidate. The reality is that no political party in the country has the capacity to organise these elections in all the 8,809 wards in the country. Direct voting in primaries therefore means that party leaders simply write numbers for candidates as they please. In Nigeria, this process is called results by declaration. It is efficient as no one has the possibility of actually voting to mess up Oga’s decision. The process becomes one of make-belief.
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There was no surprise when the APC Presidential primaries took place in 8,809 wards across 36 states and the FCT and President Tinubu won with 10, 999,967 votes as announced by Senator Anyim Pius Anyim at the Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja on Sunday, May 23. They didn’t choose the Eagle Square. The announcement had to be in a building named after Tinubu himself! The only issue was that no one saw anyone voting.
To lend the entire process a veneer of legitimacy, competition and credibility, Tinubu was challenged by an unknown person called Stanley Osifo from Edo State. People have now seen his name for the first time as he was allocated 16,504 votes and according to rumours that circulated, he was handsomely rewarded for his role in play-acting. It was good drama.
The main outcome of the APC primaries was that only those approved by the President were allocated winning votes or consensus declarations. There was no possibility of surprise victories. Hordes of prospective candidates had been persuaded to abandon their parties and join the APC with promises that they will be given tickets. Most of them were shocked when they discovered they had been deceived and were used and dumped. It is only after that that they realised all doors had been closed as the Electoral Act has now closed the possibility of their running to another party to get nominations as many had done in the past. Joining the ruling party is no longer a winning strategy.
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Many of the APC members in the National Assembly received a political death blow. The APC had 242 members in the House of Representatives, and 88 Senators. Many of them did not get their return tickets. They were either screened out, outsmarted or defeated through the declaration process.
Dr. Ajibola Bashiru, Secretary General of the APC, had said all results would be declared centrally from the party secretariat. Nobody listened to him. The results were collated and announced on site under the direction of state governors. Governors, as is well known, like removing powerful legislators that are gaining political weight and replacing them with their boys who show more loyalty. Many of the losers are appealing the outcomes but they find themselves caught in a quagmire where the judiciary is largely in the hands of the powers that be.
An interesting case study was in Rivers State where the governor had a different reality from the others. Gov. Simi Fubara was screened out of the nomination process because he fell out of favour with a godfather who is not even a member of the APC, but a friend of the APC President. He could not get a single nomination for his boys in the National and State Assemblies.
The message of those in power is that the rule of law no longer operates in the process. Section 87 of the Electoral Act prescribes that: “(1) A political party that adopts a consensus candidate shall secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate. (2) Where a political party is unable to secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for a consensus candidate, it shall revert to the choice of direct primaries for the nomination of candidates for elective positions.”
It was not just the APC that is guilty as charged. In the African Democratic Congress (ADC), there have been two congresses. Dumebi Kachikwu has been declared the Presidential candidate of one faction. In the David Mark-faction, the contest was from a list of three: Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatudeen. Atiku won with a massive lead. Both Amaechi and Hayatudeen said the numbers were fabricated in a naked process of electoral fraud.
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Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, a party baron, declared that the level of rigging in the ADC was so high that he is jumping ship and will henceforth support his former political enemy Bola Tinubu.
The political party primaries are enough reasons for concern and anxiety about the forthcoming elections. The political parties showed absolute disregard to party members. Only the president, state governors and party godfathers mattered. A significant part of the political class has been played out and they feel cheated, bitter and betrayed.
The process has established the principle that recruitment into the political parties is not based on the popularity of candidates because voting is no longer part of the selection process. We now have a mafia-style recruitment process in which the boss, the capo, chooses and the entire organisation must obey or be eliminated. It is above all a symbolic process in which Nigerians are being told you have no role to play in the process.
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When we are told that President Tinubu got 11 million votes in the APC primaries, far more than his total votes in the 2023 Presidential election of 8,805, 475, the suggestion is that he would get more votes in the general election in 2027 because that is the way the system is now configured.
Over 120 members of the National Assembly, comprising both the Senate and the House of Representatives, defected from the political parties that brought them into the Chambers. Most of these defectors sought the party’s tickets to run for re-election in various contests, but to no avail, sparking outrage. Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North) accused the APC leadership of deception, alleging that he was promised an automatic return ticket to the Senate before defecting from PDP to the ruling party.
The message of those in power is that the rule of law no longer operates in the process. Section 87 of the Electoral Act prescribes that: “(1) A political party that adopts a consensus candidate shall secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate. (2) Where a political party is unable to secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for a consensus candidate, it shall revert to the choice of direct primaries for the nomination of candidates for elective positions.”
These provisions were simply disregarded and even former ministers are now complaining that they rejected the consensus method but their protests were disregarded. Now we all know, only anointing by the godfather is a legitimate door of entry into power. Who can now continue to claim we live in a democracy?
Ibrahim is a professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development. He is also the Chair of the Editorial Board of Abuja-based online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES.
