Kaduna State Governorship aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Shehu Sani, has alleged that the processes that threw up candidates for the 2023 election were a market by delegates to the higher bidder.
Sen. Sani said the faulty process was not going to bring about any change in the Nigerian political sphere, especially, governance that should be driven by vision and ideology.
Sen. Sani who paired with Sam Uhuanbunwa, Presidential aspirant of the party in the morning interview on Channels Television, on Monday, maintained that the primaries produced the highest bidders against quality candidates to lead the country.
“Our democracy is twenty-two years old. And it is expected that each time you have an election there should be some form of improvement. The quality and transparency of the electoral process unfold. But it is clear that despite attempts to reform elections for the better, the grey areas and dark areas remained unchanged for years.
“To me, I believe that if this democracy is to survive, and if democracy is to really live up to its name as a democracy. Those ingredients that made it possible for people to participate, either as electorate or as aspirants or as candidates must be seriously taken to ensure that the game is played according to the rules.
“I participated in the election. And I have seen that there is no better time for us as a people and as a nation to focus on the way aspirants emerge as candidates.
“I believe whatever candidate that is going to take over power and hopefully, will be the People’s Democratic Party. This issue needs to be squarely addressed.
“I particularly have shown concern over the way aspirants canvass for votes because we are not canvassing for votes based on policies and programs and agenda the candidates have, we are simply in a bidding process.
“The primaries was more of a bidding process, like an auction, you have to be suitable, where you go meet the delegates and then they tell you what your opponents have offered them, you are to top it up for them to vote for you.
“So despite the fact that that was what has happened, I believe, for the fact that the main opposition in the country has been able to conduct its primaries peacefully and a candidate has emerged. I think this is a time for us to do the needful because, if you don’t address money, and politics, the idea of delegates turning the whole primaries into a market will hurt all.
“We will not have candidates, we simply would have businessmen, people who bought positions of power. And in a country like ours, where everyone or majority of people agree that the problems of Nigeria’s leadership.
“How can credible leaders emerge when you have to pay to the vote? And I believe that one of the things which I did, clearly as an aspirant, was to face the delegates by saying that I am not going to give you money.
“You vote for me based on my policy and agenda. Or else you do what vote for that person. And somebody needs to say no, and that person who needs to say no has to be a person who is a participant. Once aspirants begin to say that they are not going to give money. national politics would eventually change.
A presidential aspirant on the platform of the PDP who polled one vote in spite of the fact that his home state paraded 17 delegates said he was disappointed at the outcome because the people repeatedly told him that he had brilliant ideas and a proven track record for Nigeria however, the Nigerian factor was going to play out at the primaries
He argued that various factors influenced the votes and especially, ready money for delegates who had the weak resolve to defer benefits which would have been collected as against their immediate benefits.
Ohuanbunwa said: “Delegates were influenced by different factors there were three things that could make somebody vote for you one will be the profundity of your thoughts, your ideas, what you want to achieve by coming to the office, what I call your vision.
“The other will be how you are able to convince him either directly or through third parties, what we call influencers. And of course in Nigerian politics, the other is the effect of money.
“By the time you see the votes emerging you see that the votes are skewed. The voters came up with that decision facing different influences. It did not reflect what I was hoping for. But that was the reality of what we confronted.
“I had a vision. I had an ideology, everybody told me to look, this is what Nigeria needs. They need a new Nigeria. They need people like you with competence, experience and character. You know this is Nigeria. They kept telling me this was Nigeria.
“I said, we think this country should change, in terms of how it decides to select its leadership because if we keep doing the same thing, we are likely going to get the same answers.
Speaking further on his impression of the process that was limited to one vote out of the over 700 delegates that voted at the convention he said
“I feel disappointed that it happened back then. Then, It is the nature of politics and the nature of the level of structures of delivering political thoughts and opinions in what we have in this country.
“There is a lot of captures, a lot of influence that sometimes does not allow the individual voter to exercise much discretion. If somebody who has a lot of political influence, and finances, pushes you and says this is where you should go, very many people have the liver to follow their conscience.
“They also have the difficulty in seeing money and ignoring it, especially when it’s substantial. Is human behaviour.
“There are all kinds of considerations in coming to a conclusion in deciding who to vote, and it happened here and let’s be true, this is not the first time.
“During the last PDP election in Portharcourt, it was the same way, the same pattern and so it’s not new. We only hope that he was going to get better with the entrance of people like us, who represent a different worldview, different perspectives, that he could moderate things,” he lamented
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