These scandalous primaries

THE distressing spectacle that attended the recent National Assembly and governorship primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and some other political parties is another episode in Nigeria’s long chronicle of electoral misconduct. The inordinate scenes are a grim parable about the corrosion of the democratic culture in the country. Across the federation, what should have been an orderly exercise in intra-party competition sparked confusion, intimidation, imposition, and outright fraud. From disappearing venues to conflicting results, from “consensus” arrangements manipulated by godfathers to brazen acts of violence, the primaries exposed the alarming fragility of democratic norms within the parties — and, by extension, within Nigeria’s broader political system.

As a specific example, in Ondo State, armed thugs allegedly stormed a senatorial primary venue at Ebenezer African Church Primary School, Akure, firing gunshots indiscriminately and throwing delegates, journalists, teachers, and pupils into panic mode. Such scenes should never be a feature of a constitutional democracy; they symbolise a lawless republic where brute force supplants civic reason. Unfortunately, the cataclysmic situation re-echoes William Butler Yeats’ chilling line in his 1919 poem, The Second Coming’: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” The centre of Nigeria’s democratic order is indeed struggling to hold when political contests resemble gang warfare rather than contests of ideas and vision. Sadly, more scandalous than the violence was the shameless manipulation of figures and procedures. In many centres, counting proceeded with absurd impunity: for example, delegates watched as “100”, instead of “27”, was regarded as the next number after “26,” and as the immediate next number after”235” was called as “1,350”, fraudulently distorting arithmetic sequence and progression and conjuring numerics for political manipulations.  Aspirants openly rejected results, alleging that the processes had been hijacked by governors and party overlords. Yet the perpetrators seemed unconcerned by video evidences of their duplicity, suggesting a dangerous normalisation of impunity.

This is the tragedy of contemporary Nigerian politics: wrongdoing no longer hides in shadows. Primaries that ought to produce candidates through persuasion and public relations advocacy have become mere coronations arranged by political barons. Lamentably, state governors, empowered over the years as financiers and de facto owners of state party machinery, increasingly behave like feudal lords dispensing electoral favours to loyal retainers. Aspirants who lack godfathers, no matter how well qualified, are reduced to spectators in contests they entered into in good faith. The consequences of this degeneration are profound. Democracy does not collapse only when the military seize political power. It also dies gradually when procedures become meaningless, when rules are manipulated at will, and when citizens lose faith in the ballot. “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs,” as the Greek philosopher, Plato, warned, “is to be ruled by evil men.” Nigerians must reckon with the veritable danger: if political parties cannot organise credible primaries internally, they cannot be trusted to ensure credible national elections.

Indeed, certain questions must be asked with utmost seriousness. If candidates emerge through warped and fraudulent processes, how can they be expected to govern with integrity? How can politicians who gain office through coercion and imposition solve Nigeria’s existential crises of insecurity, unemployment, poverty, and institutional decay? A poisoned well cannot yield pure water. Leaders produced by anti-democratic means will definitely govern with the same contempt for accountability that produced them. Very unsettling also is the growing culture of disqualification and exclusion. Primaries are supposed to produce nominees through open competition. Instead, many aspirants found themselves arbitrarily screened out or muscled aside. Liberal democratic values — respect for due process, fair competition, and the sanctity of individual rights — are becoming increasingly scarce in Nigerian political life. Yet these values are not luxuries; they are the foundation stones upon which stable societies are built.

Apparently, political restructuring intrigues seemed to have worsened matters significantly. The empowerment of governors as the effective heads of parties in their states has entrenched a system in which they have become “almighty excellencies” and proprietors of party structures. The consequences are now before the nation: parties dependent on governors for funding inevitably become captive institutions incapable of independent judgment. This practice must end. Political parties should possess autonomous structures sustained primarily through membership dues and transparent donations, not through personal donations by governors. Nigeria once had examples worthy of emulation. The defunct Action Group and the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) were mass-based organisations with ideological clarity and substantial grassroots support. Their members funded the party because they believed in its philosophy.

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In mature democracies such as the United States, even presidents openly solicit donations from ordinary citizens. Such practices deepen accountability because leaders remain answerable to donors and financiers spread across the society, not only to a handful of oligarchs. Nigeria’s current model breeds dependency and authoritarianism within parties. Whoever pays the piper calls the tune. Consequently, candidates emerge not because they inspire confidence among party members but because they enjoy the blessing of powerful patrons. This “win-at-all-costs” mentality has become one of the greatest threats to the Republic of Nigeria. Unless urgently confronted, it could accelerate institutional collapse — a calamity even worse than the insecurity that is ravaging the country.

All hope is not lost yet. Institutions of learning, particularly universities, have a crucial role to play in shaping a new political consciousness among the youths. Universities must not become mere factories for certificates; they should nurture civic virtue, critical thinking, and democratic ethics. Nigeria desperately needs a generation of citizens who see politics not as warfare or plunder but as public service. As John Adams wisely observed, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.” Political enlightenment remains the surest antidote to manipulation and undemocratic conduct. If young Nigerians are taught to value transparency, participation, and accountability, they may yet rescue the nation from the stranglehold of political brigandage.

The primaries have provided a sobering warning that the nation’s political culture is dangerously detached from democratic ideals. Meanwhile, warnings are useful only if heeded. Nigeria cannot continue on this path of impunity, recklessness, imposition, chaotic gerrymandering and institutional decay without imperiling the future of its democracy. The time has come for political parties in the country to embrace reform and begin to play responsibly or risk becoming undertakers at the funeral of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.