Given the warning foretaste of the disruptive crises birthed by party primaries so far, political party leaders must brace up and evolve workable strategies to resolve any rebellion after the make-or-mar presidential primaries, writes Louis Achi
As the quaint English metaphor goes, “Oft, a little morning rain foretells a pleasant day.” But then what has transpired in the prickly political party primaries held so far hardly portends a pleasant post-party primary camaraderie – especially within the ranks of the governing and main opposition parties- the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). There is reason to worry.
The stakes are extremely high. Nigerians are mindful of the fact that a failure to achieve democratic stability, through transparent electoral processes, both through the delegates and general electorate may imperil the country’s future as a coherent state.
Delegates are party officials who are granted the right to elect candidates during an indirect primary election. It is these candidates thus elected that fly their various political parties’ tickets in the general elections. In effect, these delegates play key roles in the electoral process of the nation’s democracy.
Even ahead of the make-or-mar presidential party primaries, the seismic intrigues within the ruling and main opposition parties, two key behemoths that would largely determine the quality of the imperilled national journey going forward, are hardly heart-warming.
Undeniably, the temptations have always been there for the parties to contrive mischief to muddy the processes. Significantly, financial inducements of delegates and even voters at the general election are often part of the Nigerian politics because of the level of poverty in the land. But the longer term view of the nation’s good must always be factored in instead of being hemmed in the background.
The PDP had fixed its primary election for May 28 and 29, while that of the APC has been scheduled for May 29 and 30. A total of 11,500 delegates selected from across the country would participate in the elections of the two parties. While the APC has 7,800, the leading opposition party has 3,700 delegates.
About 37 aspirants are in the race for the presidential tickets of the two leading parties. While the APC has 23, the PDP has cleared 14 aspirants to compete for its presidential ticket. A major political figure and presidential aspirant of PDP, Peter Obi quit the party last week.
Obi, in his resignation letter addressed to PDP National Chairman, left no one in doubt of his intention to still contest 2023 elections on the terms and conditions he had championed during his political consultations. Hear him: “our national challenges are deep-seated and require that we each make profound sacrifices towards rescuing our country. My commitment to rescuing Nigeria remains firm, even if the route differs.”
Further tension spiked in PDP as party stalwarts in the South-east region withdrew from the party primaries en masse. Those that withdrew or tendered their resignation include the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu. Ekweremadu announced his withdrawal from participating in the PDP governorship primary election which held last Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
Ekweremadu’s position was contained in a statement signed by the Director General of his campaign, Charlse Ogbo Asogwa, who urged supporters of the former Deputy Senate President to remain peaceful.
Obviously, Senator Ekweremadu chose to withdraw before the upcoming party primaries because in line with the amended electoral law, participation in a primary election – win or lose – invalidates participation in another primary election in another party. This logic is seen to be applicable to Senator Abaribe who withdrew from the governorship primaries of PDP in Abia State and Peter Obi’s stance.
In Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe not only withdrew from the APC gubernatorial contest but also declared that he has effectively quit being a member of the party. Insisting that he will not accept the outcome of the party’s governorship primary, Senator Abe said the process that produced the delegates for the primary was not credible.
The former lawmaker, who addressed a media briefing at his Freedom House campaign office in the new GRA of Port Harcourt, said notwithstanding the happenings in APC, he will be on the ballot for next year’s election.
Related developments from Sokoto State also followed the same pattern as a founding member of the PDP, Mukhtari Shehu Shagari, formally announced his exit from the PDP, accusing Governor Aminu Tambuwal of barefaced ‘deceit’.
Shagari announced his withdrawal shortly after a stakeholders’ meeting chaired by the governor in which the former Secretary to the State Government was endorsed as the PDP’s flagbearer in the forthcoming election.
In a press statement Shagari who was a former Minister for Water Resources and ex-Deputy Governor of the State, said it was unfortunate that the governor has no regard for “integrity, honour, and excellence.”
The fallouts so far from these party primaries suggest that major disruptive internal pre-and post-primary party conflicts have reared their heads and will certainly need to be resolved.
The grouse of the party chieftains triggering their mass exit were inspired by hurdles erected by state governors to enable them field their anointed candidates and on the other hand, by top national party leaders, who insisted that the presidential tickets be thrown open.
The Senator Iyorchia Ayu-led executive committee of the PDP had spurned the zoning culture of the party and rather, threw the contest open to all persons regardless of region when it got to the turn of the South-east to produce the presidential candidate. The APC had also done the same.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, a former Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank Plc, Dr. Alex Otti, also withdrew from the APC governorship primary election to enable him contest in another party in line with the amended electoral law.
In another quirky development, the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, probably took political obfuscation to another level when he solemnly proclaimed last week that his party would take a decision on zoning after screening its 2023 presidential aspirants.
For good measure, the aging veteran politician also stated there was no evidence that aspirants were giving money to delegates. Adamu said these in an interview with selected Hausa service media organisations late Wednesday night.
From the unfolding developments, it can be extrapolated that what has transpired so far in the party primaries may pale in comparison with what could happen in the presidential primary. The emerging consensus is that political parties need to brace themselves and evolve workable crisis management templates to handle what crises the primaries may birth.
In this light, folks vested with the responsibility of managing critical pre-election processes, specifically party primaries, ought to approach their briefs according to an understanding – according to a set of principles – that reflect a sense of the permanent destiny of the nation. This remains the serially unmet challenge before Nigeria’s political party hegemons.
