“We have decided that in order to ensure popular participation, and to deepen democracy in Osun State, in line with the provisions of our party constitution which allow for either direct or indirect primary, we have resolved that the governorship election primary in Osun State will be conducted on the basis of the direct primary. What that means is that every card-carrying member of our party will participate in the process of nominating the candidate of the party.”
– Adams Oshiomhole, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, announcing the decision of the National Working Committee on the primary election in Osun State on July 16, 2018.
Two weeks ago, I flagged political parties as the engine of democracy, because of their crucial role in political mobilisation and democratic renewal (Killing democracy slowly the Nigerian way, The PUNCH, July 10, 2018). In every democracy, political parties provide the engine room for political struggles within and across parties. That’s why political parties are the focus of activity during elections.
This is the more so because one of the primary functions of a political party is to present a viable candidate for election, who has the qualifications, capabilities, and loyalty to the party’s agenda. Each candidate must be able to sustain their party’s ideals, by espousing its ideology and successfully implementing its programmes and projects. This is particularly important for executive political offices, such as those of president, governor, and chairman of a Local Government Area.
This explains why political parties should be very careful with the process by which their candidates are selected. Party leaders in particular have a duty to ensure that party members have adequate education and information about the type of candidate that could best represent their party’s ideals and ensure the sustainability of their programmes and projects.
That’s why, for example, aspirants for political office in the United States are given sufficient time to go round their constituencies, campaign to the voters about their qualifications and ability to pursue their parties’ ideals and agenda. The US presidential aspirants in particular have over a year to criss-cross the 50 states, canvassing the support of party members for their bid. In an elaborate process, party members vote to indicate their preferences, leading up to their respective party’s nominating conventions. Americans have long realised that the extent to which political parties are able to practise internal democracy in their primary election process is a measure of the success of their democracy.
Since the rebirth of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, the primary process of choosing the party’s torchbearer for political office has been very contentious. Regardless of political party, accusing fingers have always been pointed at party leaders and the party establishment for manipulating the process, leading to heightened demand for its democratisation.
For quite some time now, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress has been in the eye of the storm over controversies or legal battles arising from governorship primaries in Edo, Ondo, and, most recently, Ekiti states. The method used in these primary elections relied on party delegates, who were manipulated by party leaders, political bosses, moneybags, and the aspirants themselves. As a result, the highest bidder often won the race. Indeed, the illegal and condemnable practice of purchasing votes, now a feature of recent elections in Nigeria, began with party primaries, where delegates were bought and sold like bags of rice.
This is the practice that the new leadership of the APC, led by its new Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, sought to end by adopting the direct or open primary in which all registered card-carrying members could participate in the election of their party’s candidate. Coming on the heels of Ekiti’s controversial indirect primary, involving only party delegates, the Osun State primary election was the logical experimental ground.
Nevertheless, the leadership of the APC in Osun still had a job to do in ensuring that the best candidate emerged, who would uphold the party’s ideals and sustain its programmes and projects. In no successful democracy does the party leadership abdicate this role. The failure of the Republican Party leadership in the United States to step in early in the party’s primary led to the emergence of a rouge candidate in Donald Trump. Their belated attempt to stop him turned out to be futile. The party and, indeed, the nation are now regretting that they have elected a demagogue, racist, and even a possible despot. What is even more worrisome is the gradual erosion of democratic norms under Trump.
To avert this problem, the APC leadership in Osun rightly engaged in massive voter education and conversations with the aspirants, even after they had been screened by the appropriate committee. Not unexpectedly, a number of the aspirants stepped down, while others withdrew. Yet, others stayed in the race to the end. The final tally of votes was due partly to the popularity of the winning candidate and partly to the stepping down for him by many aspirants.
In order to make the voting process as transparent as possible, the leadership of the party in Osun settled for the so-called Option A-4, by which party members lined up behind the agents of their respective candidates. This was the method used in the 1993 presidential election, which has been adjudged as the freest and most credible election in Nigerian history.
There are several interesting takeaways from the APC open primary in Osun. First, it is a win-win situation for the party. On the one hand, by enlisting the participation of party members in the primary election, they are simultaneously sensitised to the September 22 governorship election. A 67-year-old party member told me that it was the first time he ever had to participate in a primary election. “I am now the more encouraged to vote”, he added.
On the other hand, the open primary functioned as an indirect poll of enthusiastic party members. In other words, the party now knows its committed voter base and can concentrate its governorship campaign on other voters. Knowing the party’s base is important because party leaders then know where to go and who to call for voter mobilisation and other party activities.
Second, the direct primary reduced or eliminated many problems associated with indirect primaries. For example, the practice of hoarding delegates by sequestering them in a hotel, thereby making them inaccessible to other aspirants, was eliminated. Moreover, by adopting Option A-4, the voters themselves became the ballot. There were no ballot papers and no ballot boxes to snatch. The possibility of disrupting the process was drastically reduced. In the final analysis, it was cheaper for the aspirants and the party.
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