by Turaki A. Hassan & Abbas Jimoh
Chief
Max Gbanite, Convener of Concerned PDP Democrats explains why he says
the ruling party should dispense with presidential primary saying it is
to avoid divisive internal politics. Excerpts:
You said the PDP should abolish the system of presidential primaries
to adopt the American model, can you explain how this can work?
Party primaries are necessary to choose flag bearers for political
parties before the main election. It is dubbed the election before the
election. Sometimes, the real choice of the people may not emerge in
party primaries especially when the delegates’ system of selection is
involved and money plays a significant role in the choices made. At
other times, the primaries become so acrimonious that cracks develop
among party members leading to disaffection and defection to other
parties.
It has also been established that even when a political party like
the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) adopts the conclave system
otherwise known as consensus in choosing their candidates, those
dissatisfied almost always move against the preferred candidate. The
case of Ondo in the last election when some ACN aspirants defected to
Labour Party bears mention. What it means therefore is that a political
party cannot be too careful in the management of its primaries so as to
guard against dissension and anti-party activities.
You sound as if the process of primaries is entirely flawed...
That was the scenario President
Goodluck Jonathan referred to in his last presidential chat when he
declared PDP primaries as battle fronts because of the perceived belief
that whoever gets or picks the party tickets in a primary election is as
good as the winner in the main election. As the ruling party in
Nigeria, PDP has faced so many challenges in the management of its
internal affairs that even outsiders had expressed concerns over its
future. The opposition has in fact been praying for the implosion of PDP
which had been in power since the return of Nigeria to democracy in
1999.
Because of the obvious danger and
threat to the continued dominance of PDP, it has become absolutely
necessary for the party to take a second look at the rules governing the
conduct of its presidential primary.
But sitting presidents have been challenged in primaries in the past....
Those recurring errors are what should
be avoided in the tortuous road of endorsing a candidate for future
presidential elections in Nigeria. Yes, former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar, Dr. Alex Ekwueme and others have severally challenged the
incumbent president without success even when they are certain of
winning. The truth is that all organs and the processes of power in the
ruling party are naturally skewed in favour of the incumbent president.
For instance , he is the leader of the party , he contributes over 70
percent of the finances of the party , police , and other security
apparatus are all under him as the Cin C , the Federal Executive Council
, the economy , anti corruption agencies, just name it are all under
his control . It’s near impossibility for an incumbent president to lose
his party’s primary ticket. Every patriotic PDP member must look at
this proposal purely on its merit and with the experiences of the past.
PDP must decide now to realistically re engineer it’s self for the
future.
In advanced democracies of the world,
especially United States of America whose presidential model we seek to
chart, the incumbent President is not subjected to the indignity of
primaries because he or she is the symbol or the strength and capacity
of the party. He is always given the right of first refusal. In other
words, except he declines to re contest, the road is cleared for him to
pick the party’s ticket effortlessly.
How does your position square with the presidential aspiration of Ndigbo in 2015?
Who are their partners in pursuit of
such ventures? After President Goodluck Jonathan has done a second term
then such matters can be visited. An Igbo president for Nigeria remains a
noble, great and fantastic option for Nigeria.
Is this idea specifically tied to the person of President Jonathan and 2015 or is it something that goes beyond Jonathan?
Please, for the avoidance of doubt,
let me stress that this proposal for the National Executive Committee of
the party to amend the PDP constitution to abrogate primaries for our
sitting president has nothing to do with President Goodluck Jonathan as a
person or with 2015 in focus. It is a most patriotic and pragmatic
suggestion on how to show leadership to the nation and ensure that we
face any presidential election as a united front. Yes providence has put
Jonathan as our president now, but this proposal is beyond him; anybody
could be there tomorrow and such a person is bound to enjoy this
privilege.
Bickering, animosities, blackmail,
big-money-politics, and bad blood often associated with primaries will
be spared PDP if it makes it mandatory that an incumbent President
produced by the party must get an automatic party ticket for the general
election. What is required for the party to do, to meet with the
electoral guidelines, is to go through the motion of affirmation where
the candidature of the incumbent president is endorsed at a National
convention. This is the culture of democracy in America, be it Democrats
or Republican Party, and indeed in all civilized democracy.
As earlier canvassed, if this system
is adopted, the party will pool resources from all heavy weights to face
the main election. It will also avoid the distractions of bitter
rivalry. Most importantly, it will checkmate the threats of decampment
by aggrieved aspirants, thereby depleting the needed arsenal for the
main election.
DailyTrust
