A case for direct primaries in Osun APC

PARTY primaries offer a unique opportunity for party members to critically examine aspirants for public office within their fold in order to make informed decisions as to which of them to sponsor for what office. They help a political party to assess itself and subject its aspirants to scrutiny with a view to ensuring that only the best are put forward for elections. A primary is akin to a test before the final examination. That test must be ideal in order to throw up high-quality candidates. If the wrong people are sponsored for offices, the parties would pay for such on the day of reckoning, on election day. As such, the process is as important as the primary election. In fact, the nomination process, the modality employed in picking the candidates, makes the primary election itself. If the wrong process is employed, it may invariably throw up wrong candidates for the poll.

This is why the importance of the process can hardly be overemphasised in leadership recruitment. The controversy in some quarters over the propriety or otherwise of direct primaries is therefore dismaying. It is an unnecessary debate, in my view. Direct primaries can hardly be faulted, whichever way you view them. But in our clime, the delegate system holds sway within the political parties. It has become the order of the day. And not a few are worried about this seeming debauchery, which has only helped to corrupt the party nomination process, giving the prized tickets to the highest bidders in most cases.  Evidently, that method is undemocratic. Because it leaves a large chunk of party members out of the critical decision on the choice of candidates. A dangerous development associated with the delegates system is that nothing is considered odd in an attempt to get the delegates to toe the lines of their sponsors, even the unusual, the unorthodox. There are stories of how delegates were made to swear on oaths in some evil forests in order to spiritually bind them to vote in a particular way. It is clear that those stridently opposing the use of direct primaries particularly in the All Progressives Congress (APC) are pursuing narrow personal agendas.

But the agitation to get the party to do the right thing, by returning the decision on the choice of candidates back to the people, the party members, has since begun. It started during the time of the immediate-past chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.  That leadership had argued, however, that it was too late then to revert to direct primaries. Too late to do that which is right and democratic, many may enquire?

The time to do what is right, which will restore credibility to the party’s nomination process, is now. And it should start with the Osun APC governorship primaries. Expectedly, the nay-sayers have gone to work. There were reports in some newspapers at the weekend about some stalwarts moving to cause disquiet within the party in Osun over the mode of primary election to employ in picking its candidate for the September 22, 2018, governorship poll.

The party’s constitution provides for both direct and indirect primaries, but it’s the direct primaries model that is in synch with the democratic tenet of the party. You may argue that it may create management problem as it may tend to be unwieldy, but will INEC that conducts election across parties and across the country say. The agitation against direct primaries is therefore neither in the interest of the party, nor the interest of democracy, nor in the interest of the party members. In fact, it is antithetical to all of them. On the contrary, however, evidence abounds of how direct primaries helped candidates, believed to enjoy popular support, from being oppressed by party overlords in the nomination process. Direct primary option ensures a level-playing field and protects the nomination process from being hijacked by over-zealous party chieftains and desperate money bags.

Osun chapter is a veritable place to re-set the nomination process button. The same system was used in picking incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola as the party’s candidate during his re-election in 2014.  What began in 2014, therefore, should be continued. It should be taken beyond Ekiti. It is more participatory and gives all registered members of the party the opportunity to participate in the process. What is more, it is the best avenue for the party to assess its strength going into a general election, as it gives a fair idea of the party’s membership standing. The interesting thing, however, is only a few are opposed to direct primaries, even in the State of Osun. Again, the beautiful thing is the final decision on the matter, within the APC, ultimately rests with the party’s NEC through the National Working Committee. And a new Sheriff who believes in fairness and transparency is in town. The jury is out. Will the APC NWC do the right thing and return the nomination process to the path of rectitude?

•Balogun is a public affairs analyst based in Abuja.