For a column which has some odd titles, this installment’s has got to be the oddest of them all. And no, I’m not talking about the popular leadership/HR mantra that asks those at the top to delegate responsibilities in order to get work done effectively. I’m talking about delegates, as referred to on the Nigerian political scene: You know, chosen party members who pick candidates to go head-to-head with other parties’ candidates at the polls. It seems simple enough, just before you add the Nigerian factor.
Don’t forget that the party delegates are even more potent than ever, owing to a curious omission of statutory delegates in the Electoral Act 2022. Without the ‘super’ version, the elected delegates from various constituencies can do or undo, and on a whim. Whims which we know can be influenced in a number of ways, especially if the media is to be believed. And of course I do believe the media. Or certain quarters of it. And what I have been reading all weeklong has been, to say the least, scandalous. And alarming. And dangerous. You get the picture.
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I say scandalous because there have been reports of delegates being locked up in hotel rooms and forced to take an oath to vote in a particular direction after collecting monetary inducement. I say alarming, because even videos are circulating, of a certain major political party’s officials doling out millions of naira, LGA by LGA. I say dangerous, because the shocking news I’m hearing now is that delegates are being targeted for assault, and maybe even worse. What should be a valid, easy, straightforward process, is now chaotic.
While the stories are legion, perhaps the most cringe-worthy one remains that of the son of a former vice president who was defeated at the primaries. After he asked delegates for a ‘refund’, he even added that it was a directive given by the major stakeholders of his party that any sum given to delegates by various aspirants for their support should be returned to those unsuccessful in the primary elections. Wow. I’ve never come across a gun smoking this much!
We all know how Bureau De Change operators in Abuja routinely run of out of US dollars the minute there’s a major political gathering, especially party primaries. We have all heard of (and even seen the video) of an aspirant who lost at the primaries, only to chase after delegates and retrieve his envelopes of cash, looking so excitedly relieved. Even the internet has caught on, with social media being awash with jokes and memes about how cool it would be to be a delegate, dirty money be damned! And we know enough about our country to know that if it is being joked about, then it’s not a joke, but reality.
I know it’s a joke and I should laugh because it’s actually funny, but I can’t find the mirth. Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai remarked that ‘Some people say that delegates may not make heaven’, a thinly-veiled reference to their shady modus operandi regarding endorsement of aspirants. Even though he had added that ‘Kaduna delegates would make heaven’, he had a crystal-clear point. It is interesting to note that the APC’s primaries were remarkably orderly, at least by the standards of our brand of politics.
Truth be told, some of the stories, reports, and videos of the insanely over-the-top shenanigans of delegates and their patrons nationwide would read like fiction. Again, I go back to the opening of this piece, and say ‘delegate, delegate, delegate!’ But this time around, I’m doing so in an effort to call them thrice the way Nigerians popularly do in warning, or to bring a crucial issue to light. I know it’s probably too little too late, as well, but I will still say it: Do the right thing, now and always, or you will suffer the consequences of poor money-induced choices along with all of us ordinary Nigerians.
Which brings me to the point where I am pondering why the process of choosing delegates is not structured to utilize transparency or to resemble a democratic approach. It would, after all, be practical that if the process of choosing those who choose is wholesome, then some of that kosher-ness would trickle down to the candidates themselves. I mean, look at all the ensuing drama triggered by what is currently being practiced. But that’s a story for another day, because now that candidates are emerging, the delegates will soon shuffle back into the shadows from which they strode. It is now that the real politicking will begin, God help us all.
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