Much ado about direct primaries

As power brokers within the main political parties engage in intense power struggle over the direct mode of primaries clause in the amended Electoral Act, KUNLE ODEREMI takes a look at the arguments for and against the expected paradigm shift.

In a layman’s language, some pundits have aptly described direct primaries as all about one man one vote. It is about the right of party members exercising their franchise in the choice of candidates. Option A4 used during the political transition programme that produced Nigeria’s fairest and freest presidential poll in 1999, is close to the concept of direct primaries. In the buildup to the 2019 general election, the ruling the All Progressives Congress (APC) opted for direct primaries, whereas the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) settled for the mode of indirect primaries  to determine their candidates.

The adoption of the mode followed a motion for reconsideration of some clauses of the Electoral Act No.6 2010 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2021(SB. 122) sponsored by the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi. The earlier adoption had read in 87(1) that a political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under the Electoral Act “shall hold direct or indirect primaries for aspirants to all elective positions, which may be monitored by the Commission.”  The new amendment to Clause 87(1) read: “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Bill shall hold direct primaries for aspirants to all elective positions, which shall be monitored by the Commission.”

Govs versus others

The clarification given by the Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Gabiru Gaya, on the position of the National Assembly on the direct primaries clause confirmed some fears and reservations that have been expressed by some observers. “Sometimes, governors have delegates, and they decide who will be the next House of Representatives’ member, the next senator. The best legislators are those who come back often, because of experience, but these days, because of what is happening, because of interference of indirect primaries, you find out that only 30 percent will come back to the National Assembly. Of course, you are losing 70 percent. You are losing experienced people. In the National Assembly, the more you come, the more experienced you become. This is a means of empowering the legislators,” he said.

In the wake of the passage of the amendment, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, had described the clause on direct primaries as anti-democratic. “The decision by the APC-controlled Senate is a humongous blow to the development of democratic norms and a plot to introduce anarchy during internal party elections as currently obtainable in the APC. The PDP holds that the provision is aimed at increasing the costs of nomination procedures thereby surrendering the processes to money bags against the wishes and aspiration of Nigerians. Our party makes bold to state that with the exception of the APC, which intends to deploy looted funds in future elections, hardly will there be any political party that will be able to raise the cost of conducting internal elections under a direct primary process. This is why the decision of the Senate has elicited widespread rejection from Nigerians across board,” the PDP said in a statement.

An influential member of the party had warned against the shortcomings of the mode in the past. He had alleged: “The experience we have in the past shows that direct primary will lead to a crisis if forced on the parties. We saw how people sent from the national headquarters to conduct primary elections stayed in hotel rooms and conjured up figures which were announced as the result of direct primary elections.”

But, while acknowledging that no system was full-proof, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, said: ”It is, however, more democratic than indirect. It allows for the participation of the entire members of a party in a constituency where a party member is seeking nomination. The members report in their ward, they are issued ballots and they cast their votes with the supervision of INEC and the representatives of each of the contestants. After the balloting the votes are sorted and counted in the presence of everyone and then announced.”

There are reports on intense lobbying by different power blocs in the parties since the National Assembly passed the Electoral Act amendment with provision for direct primaries. Apart from some lawmakers, who opposed the mode in the course of the amendment in the legislature, governors are said to be seriously against the mode, which some critics claim it could add to the financial burden of preparing for the next general election in the country.

However, those in favour of direct primaries said it will restore the power of all stakeholders in a party to determine the candidate of the party instead of making it a preserve of a few privileged and influential party men and women. Indirect primaries encourage a few individuals to monetize the system, induce delegates and subvert due process. Critics of the mode add that it confers undue power and influence on highly exposed political actors, especially the president and governors to impose their lap dogs as candidates of political parties thereby often depriving the people of quality representation since the process that thrust people to office are manipulated and subverted by a privileged few in the party’s top hierarchy.

But the mode of direct primaries is also insulated from undue influence of power brokers within the political circle. With awesome war chest, they could railroad the process by dictating the path to follow by their supporters at the grass roots level. It is against this background that some observers oppose direct primaries, as godfather in politics remains a major factor. A corollary to that factor is the politics of number, which the two leading parties in the country have promoted lately.

The APC claims to have members totaling more than 40 million after carrying out an online membership registration, a similar exercise the PDP embarked upon some months ago. Thus, observers are curious about the authenticity of the membership registers of the individual political parties in the country, since majority of the other parties lack the resources and capacity to compile a valid membership registers across the country. Part of the guidelines for registration of parties are that they must have offices in at least two thirds of the 36 states in the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.  The other critical issue is the character of many of the main political gladiators dominating the political space.

A lot of them have gone round most of the major political parties in the last 22 years of civil rule in the country, with claims that their loyalists always move to their new parties. The implication is that the act of defections calls to question the validity of the membership registers of the parties.

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