Serial abuses of the political process through ruinously expensive primaries and corrupt practices are worrying
Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the current dispensation and the seventh year of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the helm. It is safe to conclude that the party is now managing its presidential primaries with the same incompetence in its leadership in the last seven years. While Atiku Abubakar won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries last night in Abuja, what has transpired in recent days, especially in the two main parties, has exposed the transactional nature of our politics, the weakness of critical institutions and the fragility of our democracy.
In all civilised societies, the nomination of candidates for various offices by political parties is usually deemed as a recruitment process for leadership hence the strict adherence to due process. Sadly, one general feature of the primaries of both the APC and the PDP at practically all levels has been the extensive use of money to buy delegates and their votes. But a political party nomination process cannot be a bazaar or some hollow rituals. While minor shortcomings may be excusable, serial abuses of the process through corrupt practices are cause for deep concern. Even more worrisome is the general lack of preparedness on the part of the parties which has compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to even consider an extension of time.
However, between the two major parties, the opposition PDP would seem to have fared a little better than the ruling APC. While the former has held its presidential primaries, the APC is mired in intrigues, conspiracies, uncertainty, and obvious tardiness. From its most recent schedule, its presidential primaries are now expected to hold 6th – 8th June, coinciding with the expiration of the INEC time extension. This leaves the public with the obvious conclusion that the grace granted the parties by the commission may have been done to accommodate the laxity of the APC. For a ruling party, this is an unpalatable signal. But the extension of time is not in any way a guarantee that the rescheduled APC primaries will be rancour free. The good point to make though is that the electioneering talking points of the contestants in all the parties have thus far largely been civil with minimal violence. The expectation is that this would be carried through the entire process.
From indications so far, the conclusion of the primaries may be the beginning of a slew of litigations, acrimony, and confusion, including in the fringe parties that sit on the sidelines, waiting to hawk their tickets to disgruntled politicians from the big parties. But the greater concern is how the process has been corrupted. Increasing reports of the use of money to disfigure the outcome of the primaries do not bring solace to a populace that expects politicians to use the processes leading to the 2023 elections to improve the prospects of democratic order in the country.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan spoke the minds of many Nigerians last Thursday when he decried the monetisation of the nomination of candidates by the political parties, blaming the fiasco on the National Assembly. “Laws must not be made to target individuals or an individual. When you go into that system of making laws, you make this terrible mistake that has really messed up the whole primary going on,” he said, referencing Section 84(8) of the Act which provides that only elected delegates can vote in a primary election. “If you have not been involved in the primaries you will be happy or not happy. For those of us who have been involved, it is terrible.”
Overall, INEC may have found time and space in its timetable to accommodate the extension of the timeframe for the primaries. It can ill afford such luxury in the future. It must find the courage and discipline to communicate its resolve to the parties in clear and unambiguous terms. As for the APC, we hope the leadership can put its act together and conclude its presidential primaries in a credible manner.