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Getting The Nigerian Democracy Right, A Response To Chief Bisi Akande On The Imposition Of Candidates

January 20, 2011

I have just read a statement credited to Chief Bisi Akande, the national chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the Vanguard newspaper of 20th January 2011  about the process for the selection of Candidates obtainable in the ACN and his justification of this and "the supreme 'power' of his party" to decide who becomes its flag-bearer as well as his citing of the British model to justify his argument.

I have just read a statement credited to Chief Bisi Akande, the national chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the Vanguard newspaper of 20th January 2011  about the process for the selection of Candidates obtainable in the ACN and his justification of this and "the supreme 'power' of his party" to decide who becomes its flag-bearer as well as his citing of the British model to justify his argument.

You can see it as reported here http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/01/why-acn-imposes-candidates-akande/

For those who may not know, the selection process adopted in many instances by the ACN is what the leadership of the party describes as consensus. Other aspirants except the one that has been so favoured however would describe it as imposition.

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I am sincerely hoping that Chief Bisi Akande will deny this statement. If not, then Nigeria is really in greater trouble than we may have imagined because it simply shows that some of  those held in high esteem and who are expected to be strong pillars of democracy do not even have a clue about the core ingredients that makes democracy such an appealing system of government.

The selection of party Candidates by the general house via a system akin to a Direct Primary protocol as practised in the United States of America and to a reasonable extent in the United Kingdom is the present missing link in our democratic experiment. It is the core ingredent that gives absolute power to select a candidate to the people of the constituency to be so represented. It is the restraint that prevent Mafia-like syndicates from taking over the party systems in those places. It is also the key to the emergence of supposed underdogs as champions. Examples of such people include the much celebrated Barack Obama. Had the decision to select the US Democratic Presidential flag-bearer in 2008 been solely in the hands of Democratic Party leaders, Obama would undoubtedly never have emerged. Also in the United Kingdom, if the decision to elect a new leader for the Labour Party in 2010 had been solely a decision 'in the hands' of the party leadership, Ed Miliband would never have emerged.

What is the Direct Primary system? Simply put, it is a system of selection of party flag-bearers that empowers all members (yes, ALL members) of a particular political party to vote in the election of Candidates that will represent such a political party. Essentially, every member of the political party gets to have a say - not only that - they get to have equal say in the selection process. A direct implication of this is that it takes the power to pre-determine the outcome of party primaries away from a few people - godfathers.

It is also noteworthy to state that Chief Bisi Akande was totally wrong when he cited the UK as his model. This is far from the truth. What obtains in the UK is that after the aspirants have passed rigorous screening, vetting and selection interviews (similar to the internal screening process practised by political parties in Nigeria), they would then be subjected to an equal opportunity voting procedure that would involve every member of the party in that particular constituency. All that an aspirant needs to do then would be to take his message directly to the public. Please note that many party members are often inactive and a good aspirant would fire up the zeal of these sleeping giants like Obama did.

Why is this one of the most important issues in a democracy?

A direct primary system for the determination of Candidates of a political party is very fundamental to the quality and worth of that democracy. It frontally recognizes the people as the owners of political parties - and by extension, owners of that democracy - and not a fiefdom of a few privileged individuals. If a few individuals own our political parties, we would be deluding ourselves to say the  people of Nigeria own our democracy.

Also, a direct primary system as practised in the USA and UK offers us a passport out of the perennial issues of thuggery and violence that often characterise our electioneering process. It is logical to conclude that a direct primary system will make it impossible for godfather's candidates to win and where godfathers do not have candidates, it is within reason to assume that they would not be desperate on election day in the way and manner that are known to most Nigerians.

Another twin benefit is that it will eliminate the use of money to buy the conscience of a few delegates since it will be virtually impossible to buy the votes of all members of a political party in a particular constituency. It is to be particularly noted that more people will belong to political parties if they know they have the power to determine the outcome of who gets what in that party.

I also noticed that the revered Chief Akande was quick to drop the name of Mr. Nuhu Ribadu as a token of the wise elders' good gesture to Nigerians. I see this as a convenient disguise of a patently bad action. While I particularly want youths to take over leadership, it should not be a favour by some wise elders. It should be something that the youths earned. I have no doubt in my mind that if the ACN had embraced the system of selection of leaders that is obtainable in the UK, the token gesture would have been reversed in the sense that people like Ribadu would have been in the position to do the likes of Pa. Akande favour and not the other way round.

Does any political party practice direct primary protocol in Nigeria yet

To the best of my knowledge, the answer is no. The People's Democratic Party (PDP) employed indirect party primary system which makes use of delegates. This is better than the ACN's method. This involves the selection of delegates who will then elect the party flag-bearers. The issue with this system is that it is subject to abuse because it does allow a few people to covertly predetermine who these delegates would be and by extension, their voting pattern. That is the reality in the PDP.

The target, if we want to get it right in this country is to embrace a direct system of primary for all political parties and ensure that membership of a political party cannot be decided by people other than the person involved. That way, nobody can say, go to another party simply because some people share a different point of view.


'Tunji Ariyomo is an engineer and a public commentator.

 

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