Perspective on Lagos APC primaries

By Sola Shodipo

THERE are two deeply troubling video clips currently trending on social media on the recent primary elections conducted by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State for the forthcoming local government polls in the state. Feelers from the exercise are truly disturbing and for the right reasons too. Properly dissected, the clips raised very fundamental issues on the democratic development in Nigeria, but with specific reference to the South Western region and more directly the politics of our darling state, Lagos, the land of opportunities, that continues to attract people from the North (NE, NW & NC) the South-South and the South-East. The clip has raised a number of challenges about democratic practices in Nigeria and especially in the South West. To the initiate in South-Western politics, the democratic practice being highlighted in the clips is not new. It dates back to the Action Group years. And it’s equally an established democratic practice in most parts of the democratic world. A political party chooses/determines her candidates in every election. The usual challenge in this part of the world is that when a particular democratic practice is copied, we change it most times positively to suit our peculiar situation, and, at other times, negatively, showing our lack of transparency.

The practice of political parties determining their candidates for an election is as old as democracy itself and the reasons for that are quite obvious. A political party is a movement with clearly defined objectives. It is only those that subscribe to those objectives that can fly the party’s flag faithfully. No matter how good a candidate is in any election, s/he must belong to a political party (the exception of course is where the policy of independent candidacy has been adopted). The idea is clear. A political party must have set objectives with clearly set approaches to achieve those objectives outlined in the party’s document referred to as a manifesto. The political party must have a philosophy driving her—could be capitalism or social welfarism. There used to be communism in the past, but that is no longer in practice. So, it is those who believe in a political party’s philosophy and ideals and are ready to use the party’s clearly defined mechanisms to achieve her set objectives that should contest elections under her banner. Now, the challenge, which that video clip directly speaks to, is how a political party determines the candidates within her ranks who are qualified, using those parameters of party philosophy, ideals, objectives, competence, among others, to fly her flag. That has been the bane of our political development, especially in this fourth republic.

The ‘Baba so pe’ (the leader has said so) principle that has been in use has bastardised the process and allowed party chieftains to become collecting agents under the guise of ‘Baba so pe’ instead of allowing the wish of party members to prevail. The system allows a couple of party bigwigs to determine what is “best” for the party, without recourse to party philosophy, ideals, objectives and candidates’ competences. Such candidates are literally forced down the throat of the majority of party members. Of course, the confidence for doing that is the obnoxious belief that the party will win in the main election, either because the electorate cannot decipher and understand the implications of that obnoxious practice or believe very strongly in their power of rigging. So long as there is a guarantee of success at the polls by whatever means, then there will always be a continuation of the ‘Baba so pe’ approach to political party primaries in the South West. It is however important to note that such practice is not one hundred percent bad. No. Corruption via vote buying, voter apathy as well as illiteracy and lack of knowledge by the voting public are plausible reasons for that approach.

The challenge being faced now, which the video clip in perspective points attention to, is the clear bad faith of those trying to deploy an effective, homegrown, albeit temporary solution to a much larger challenge of possible political infiltration in a completely corrupt manner. If the video clip is true, why does anyone want to draft his or her children into politics just because they want to remain relevant or continue to retain political benefits within their family? The first criterion for anyone to participate in politics is personal interest. Second is qualification and demonstrated competence, while another obviously should be those issues about party objectives, philosophy and ideals. Being the son of a popular and influential politician should not be the qualification for any elective office. With respect to what should be the appropriate alternative to what we have now, we do not need to reinvent the wheel. The clear example is what obtains in the developed democracies. Political parties across the world deploy a transparent approach to pick candidates that will represent them in main elections through open debates between and amongst competing candidates.

While it may be true that we currently have a challenge of vote buying by contestants at both the party primaries and the main elections, that is a temporary challenge that will over time fade away. Once we have a regular cycle of elections, the electorate will eventually wise up and understand the need to take their destinies in their hands by voting for the right/competent candidates. We cannot continue this ‘Baba so pe’ policy and expect our democracy to grow.

•Shodipo, MPA, LLB, FCIS, a retired federal public servant, lives in Lagos.

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