Guardian

EXPECTEDLY, the suggestion by the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih that the party should give automatic tickets to performing presidents and governors to reduce the rancour and bickering usually associated with party primaries, have generated mixed reactions from party members, activists and even voices from the opposition parties.

Anenih had made suggested during a meeting of selected leaders of the party to mark Nigeria’s 14 years of democratic rule last week.
While some of  his party members believe that the suggestion was being misconstrued to mean that the party had decided on that, others believe that it was timely and that the party should look into the suggestion to reduce the heat associated with primary elections.

But the opposition and civil society believe that such a suggestion coming from the ruling party at the centre, is not good enough to deepen the country’s democracy and should therefore be discarded.
Oladele Bankole-Balogun is the Edo State Commissioner in the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) and an House of Representative aspirant in Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency under the PDP.

He told The Guardian that it is good the party gives the suggestion a thought, saying:  “In any political setting, there is time for everything. Now, I think that a lot of movement and a lot of issues in our politics dictate when to take some decisions in support of politics. If you take the United States for example, you hardly find that a sitting president is seriously challenged in the face of coming elections such that it would break the party and cause consternation among the populace. It’s not done.

“The reason why you have that is to solidify democracy and governance.
We need to take a decision in Nigeria, the country is bigger than all of us. We need to decide what do we do at this time in our body politics. What do we do at this stage? Is it right for us to follow a model where we don’t rock the boat and we allow a sitting president to continue. We should seriously think of following models all around the world or should we leave it open and we beat ourselves to death and before election day, the country is disarray?

“I actually think that we are getting to a stage in our polity where we have to take some decisions such as protecting the sanctity of the office and ensuring that our democracy is enduring.”

On his part, the Edo State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Matthew Uroghide thinks that Anenih’s suggestion is deliberately being skewed by a section of the media to create crisis when there is none.
He said it is a good suggestion that the leadership of the party should consider when the time comes for nomination.

“I do not see why a section of the press is misconstruing this and want to cause disaffection within the party. He has said most responsibly, it is an advice to the party, it is his opinion as the chairman of the BoT that those who have performed should be given a second chance. He is just being fair so that we can avoid unnecessary rancor.

“You must know that a person of Chief Tony Anenih’s standing and of course the office that he occupies, must be able to make statements on behalf of the party because the Board of Trustees is the soul of the party. If he has said anything at the banquet to express what he felt that the party should do when it comes to nominations of governors, those in the National Assembly and even the president, when it comes to the time of nomination and they have performed well, he feels that the party shouldn’t go through the rigours of primaries. It is an advice.

“You know in the party, first and foremost, everyone wants to avoid rancour so we want to also avoid unnecessary waste of resources because what is happening is an intra-party contest and since we still have inter-party contest at the elections, I think a party like the PDP must know that we have to avoid anything that can precipitate unnecessary hiccups,” he said.

Uroghide added: “First and foremost, it is an advice; I don’t think it is the position of the party yet. That must not be misconstrued. Secondly, the National Working Committee of the party has not decided on anything yet. Again, the National Executive of the party which is equally bigger than the National Working Committee, has equally not taken a decision.”

But a chieftain of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Secretary to the Edo State government, Prof Julius Ihonvbere thinks otherwise. He described the call for automatic tickets for PDP governors and President Goodluck Jonathan as undemocratic.
Ihonvbere, a former Special Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and former member of the PDP said: “The credibility I have to make my comment is that I was in the frontline of those who fought for this democracy, whether at the level of the UDFF or the level of JACON, with people like the late Chief Anthony Enahoro, Alani Akinrinade, Bolaji Akinyemi, Kayode Fayemi, Bola Tinubu, Bola Ige and others. This is not the democracy we all fought for.

“That is his (Anenih’s) usual style, contaminating the political process. When they are afraid of competition, they look for short cuts. It is one way of telling people not to even bother. But that is not in the PDP constitution or in the constitution of Nigeria. It does not help democratic development, it does not help democratic contestation, it does not help the strengthening of political institutions. If they have performed well, their records will stand for them and they will win.

“In Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole performed to the point that across the three senatorial zones, religious divide, ethnic divide, the support was overwhelming.”
Similarly, the National President, Coalition to Save Nigeria (CSN), Dr Philip Ugbodaga said the suggestion, if applied, may have negative effect both on elected officials and the electorate.

“Democracy has always been a game of numbers and popular participation and any attempt to redefine it to make it that of exclusion and subterfuge, will spell doom for our country,”
he averred.

He said the suggestion was “surprising and strange”. He added: “If this is allowed to happen, we are likely to throw up candidates and eventually leaders that lack legitimate and popular mandate as well as citizenry that is apathetic to future participation in the electoral process. This is a precursor to insecurity and violent conflicts that have continued to plaque our country.
“The long term solution to our electoral problems is a commitment by the rulers and the ruled to build up a democratic culture and also ensure that internal democracy is firmly entrenched in all our political parties as provided in the Nigerian Electoral Act on the basis of one member, one vote system.

“Flawed political party primaries have always been the bane of our electoral quagmire in Nigerian and the options available to us for the determination of those that govern us have always been foreclosed prior to general elections. Political party primaries are a necessary ingredients for the sustenance of democracy and must represent the internal balance of the popularity and acceptability of candidates within a political party as well as guarantee participation, inclusiveness and competition within a party.”