Adeola Oluwabiyi argues that direct primaries will be less monetised and decent
“If I know that my return will depend on some few men, I may not care about you. But if I know that my return will depend on my accountability and representation to the people, I will do the right thing.
“It is important for this generation to open the door of leadership to the next generation. We must allow every Nigerian to participate fully in the process of leadership. I, therefore, stand with direct primaries.
“That’s why I said at different fora that I’m for direct primaries. We have to do this for the sake of the institution’’. That was vintage Femi Gbajabiamila.
He was and he still for all-inclusive process that will accommodate all eligible party members who are members of the party in determining the candidates of the political parties in elections.
Not in indirect primary situation where few individuals will turn themselves into gods and turn votes into transactional commodity for highest bidders. The recent sad experience during primary elections across political parties last weekend vindicated the position of the speaker of the House of Representatives.
He was light years ahead of peers. He foresaw the impending danger of heavily monetized politics and he raised the alarm but only few heeded his warning.
The adoption of the indirect nomination process has obviously become a great disservice to the nation as the democratic gains and the modest evolution of the electoral system is being reversed. The nation’s democracy is gradually turning into plutocracy, the government of the rich. In saner climes, men of ideas are treasured more than those with material substance. It is the intellectual wealth that will drive the nation in the current fourth industrial revolution age and not loads of cash.
So, no decent candidate who had worked honestly for his money will venture into a heavily ‘dollarized’ electoral process. In other words, the system will encourage those with questionable sources of means to aspire for political offices. Performance, track record won’t be reckoned with but only money. That was what Nigerian people saw played out at the primaries of the major political parties.
What of the delegates? They are the latest superstars in town trading votes for dollars. The system turned them into an emergency power brokers who should be courted at all cost. In this case, the man who can pay the highest get the ticket not the most loved, not the most educated or capable.
When a electoral process becomes heavily transactional and controlled by vagaries of demand and supply forces, the nation is in for the worst of all times. What that means is that such individuals who bought their way in will never be accountable to the electors. He believed he earned the ticket by his war chest why should stewardship be rendered to the people?
In fact, the protracted challenges plaguing the nation require a stringent leadership recruitment mechanism that will ensure that only the best and the capable emerge as potential leaders in shadow elections in preparation for the general elections. The nation that is caving in under the burden of large scale poverty, deprivation, lack of infrastructure, terrorism, banditry and general insecurity cannot hand over leadership at this critical period in the nation’s history to men who are obsessed with money and not clear-cut ideas and road map on national development.
All these pitfalls and setbacks were foreseen by Gbajabiamila when he kicked against the delegate system for nomination of political party candidates.
Let’s look back at the political history of Nigeria; most the founding fathers of the nation got into sub and national leadership positions in their early 30s. They learned the rudiment of human and material resources management at that level because the system created an enabling environment for them to thrive. No impediments on the account of heavy cash for votes in elections. But that has become impossible under the current political dispensation.
Only young folks with stupendously rich parents or those who amass wealth scamming the gullible on the internet can play in the current heavily monetized political system.
The realities as seen at the just concluded indirect primaries also made mockery of the much celebrated Not-Too-Young-to-Run bill that was passed into law and assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari with pomp and pageantry. Though, the barriers of age had been lifted while bigger stumbling blocks are impeding the aspiration of young people without strong political wealthy godfathers.
Now, the law that intended to foster inclusion, appears to favour only the children of political heavyweight and those of wealthy pedigree. Across the land, the children of former governors, ministers and top political chieftains harvested party tickets for state houses of Assembly, House of Representatives and even governorship in the case of Jigawa.
But the ugly and dangerous trend can be halted if there is a national consensus on the urgent need to ensure that the nomination process and by extension, the general elections are not heavily monetized. The starting point is what Speaker Gbajabiamila had advocated – direct primaries. This will afford all members to decide on the candidates for the party. It will be difficult, if not impossible for a moneybag to buy over all the party members.
So, this will provide opportunity for new entrants into the political fray to have a fair chance in the game. The direct primaries will afford those who have laboured in building the party opportunity to reap from the years of investment they have made. The members too will have a strong sense of belonging if they are reckoned in the selection process of flagbearers of their party.
In conclusion, there is urgent need to revisit the Electoral Act 2022 to make the direct primaries the only option for nomination of candidates for elections. The argument on the huge cost it will incur has fallen flat in the face of the sordid stories of dollar rain that emanated from last week’s indirect primaries.
The direct primary will be less monetized and decent. It is high time the nation considered the wise counsel of Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila on direct primaries.
Oluwabiyi writes from Lagos
