Last week, we looked at some preambles with regards to this direct primary issue. I have considered all the arguments of those against it, and none of the arguments are tenable. All of those on the other side of the argument are supporters of the status quo of befuddlement, summary replacement of party candidates, and most have also benefited greatly as super delegates and whatnot, from the bribes shared by powerful candidates. It would be great if Buhari could blast the space open for the involvement of everybody in Nigerian politics and defuse the tight confederacies already formed especially in the two big parties.
The cost of direct primaries is not the issue at all, as everything depends on intention. If intentions are right, INEC will instruct on how to keep the costs minimal. In fact, it can be said that whatever is spent on the transparency of direct primaries will be saved later because there should be less confusion, litigation and what have you, in the real elections. It is all about starting right. I know that Buhari will not agree. He has written his own testimonial. All the same, please readers, let me conclude my points this week.
As regards whether the idea of instituting direct primaries for all parties is democratic, of course it is. Our democracy is based on laws. We have chosen some and rejected others, from the options that present themselves in a democracy. Some of what we have codified into laws could as well be called undemocratic. Our people just like to rabble rouse when it suits them. Is the banning of small parties after one incomplete round of elections not undemocratic? Did CSOs not join forces with government and even the main opposition which is not an opposition, PDP, to enact that in justice? Why not just allow anyone to form any political party even without going through INEC? After all, the constitution guarantees freedom of association. In Ghana here, they have members of parliament like a parliamentary system of government, but they still vote for a popular president like a presidential system of government. Ditto in Kenya, France, and many other countries around the world. They did not come here for validation. They did not have to read it from some O’level textbook on Government. And those countries are plodding ahead. Perhaps what we should be asking ourselves is why are we so twisted as a people? When did we become like this; that nothing works straight and any ideas that may afford us some level of progress, through transparency and doing things properly in spite of ourselves, is summarily shot down?
Choosing direct primaries is, therefore, just one of the choices we may take, and is indeed necessary given how we have turned out as a people. It has nothing to do with the fundamentals of democracy, after all it is even more about the right of the PEOPLE to choose their own leaders from the ground up. The idea also promotes the involvement of the people in political parties, not this current situation where most people are disinterested except when to collect chicken change while the few ‘stakeholders’ who own the parties – and by extension the soul of this country – do anything they like. Part of what they do is to impose absolute ne’er-do-wells, touts, thugs, criminals, and to summarily substitute the names of anyone who falls out of their favour. If Nigerians are serious about democracy, this direct primary issue should be pursued to a logical conclusion, alongside the electronic voting proposal. Direct primaries will not be perfect at all. It can be manipulated, but we will see a few wins here and there, and then it gets better. Electronic voting too, can be summarily hijacked by the tweaking of a few algorithms from the back-end. But for a corruption-ridden system like ours, these innovations are worthwhile.
The question now becomes; how do we make any progress in this country, politically and otherwise? Of course, we needn’t be reminded just how intricately woven the politics of a society is, to its economy. In the president’s reply, when he cited the cost, he is just chasing pennies and hemorrhaging pounds. We shouldn’t be sparing expense in fixing our politics, so that our economy may take flight. My thinking is that direct primaries are the only way by which truly popular candidates may sometimes emerge even if they are disfavoured by those moneybags who have constituted themselves into principalities and idols to be worshipped. Direct primaries are the only way to begin a gradual cleansing – sorry exorcising – of our politics from the many demons that have held it down. Rather than lodge ‘delegates’ in hotels and commence the process of dollar competition, let whoever wishes to bribe start looking for all party members wherever they may live. They will get tired, and hopefully the politics will regain some sense of objectivity. And if they can indeed give dollars to all party members, perhaps that could be written down as a transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor – income redistribution.
Overall, this is power to the people. Let the people take centre stage in our politics please. And still talking about rules, when Nigeria adopted Option A4 for the 1993 elections, we saw the results. It was out there in the sun. And it was very democratic. The National Assembly has the right to tweak the constitution, by a majority vote, and to override the president, even in electoral matters. We are refusing to grow. We sometimes talk of ‘true federalism’ and all that jazz, which equates to copying what America is doing verbatim. But do we know, that in the same USA, when their democracy started and for several decades after, the first runner up in a presidential election became the vice president irrespective of the political party he belongs to? Is that ‘democratic’ enough for us? Did they come here to ask us for approval? Or are we saying we are truly inferior beings? In the interest of our own future, let us invite the Sun. For according to the holy books, that was perhaps the first thing created by God himself. Let there be light. Direct Primaries and electronic voting please. Thank you!
Happy, blessed 2022 and beyond to all readers and your kin. We wish our nation better fortunes going forward.
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