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The party primaries held recently across the country have left so much to be desired as process is being queried by those who are unhappy about the outcome, but the ruling All Progressives Congress appears to be more affected than others
By Olu Ojewale
In the past few days the nation has been witnessing some political dramas as an aftermath of the primaries held by various political parties across the country. Reports have been on the negative than positive. Some of the major political heavyweights have gotten their candidates in position to represent their parties while others are still at each other’s jugular to enthrone their preferred candidates.
In all the political gymnastics, it is difficult to ignore the Lagos State experience. The showdown was to be between Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the newly anointed godson of Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the godfather of Lagos State politics and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC. It turned out to be no contest. Ambode had become a political orphan as well a political ‘leper’ before the real primaries were to hold. All those who were to participate in the primary election had been told ahead that if they were for Ambode, they would not be allowed to vote. That’s exactly what happened. Most of those who said they were going to vote for Ambode were chased away, while supporters of Sanwo-Olu were allowed to cast their votes. Little wonder, the result of the election was a landslide. Sanwo-Olu won the primaries with 970,851 votes ahead of Ambode, who recorded 72,901 votes.
On Wednesday, October 3, Ambode conceded victory to Sanwo-Olu for the APC governorship ticket in Lagos, in order to calm frayed nerves and avert impeachment.
Indeed, there had been expectation that the governor would fight the declaration of Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the state’s Tuesday governorship primary, which was initially cancelled by the APC National Working Committee, NWC, panel that had promised to announce a new date for the primaries.
But the panel made a U-turn on Wednesday to declare Sanwo-Olu the winner, sparking speculations that the governor would reject the move. The Clement Ebri-led NWC had on Tuesday cancelled the primaries that held that day, saying they were not authentic. Ebri announced on Wednesday, October 3: “After resolving some of the hiccups, the Lagos State APC Governorship Primary Committee collated the results from the 245 wards in the 20 local government areas. At the end of the exercise, these are the votes scored by the aspirants: 1. Gov Akinwunmi Ambode, 72,901 votes. 2. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 970,851 votes.
“Following these results, I, Clement Ebri, the chairman of the Lagos State APC Governorship Primary Committee hereby declare Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the winner.”
The intrigues that gave Sanwo-Olu the APC ticket had been perfected across the state ahead of the process itself.
In a video obtained by Realnews, Mudashiru Obasa, speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, held a town-meeting with members of the party in Agege in which it was decided they would all vote for Sanwo-Olu. Interestingly, Obasa had been one of the numerous legislators who had joint posters with Ambode as far back as last year, asking voters for support to continue in good works being done in Lagos. But in his speech, Obasa said that the party hierarchy had decided that Sanwo-Olu should be the new the party governorship candidate in the state.
In the same breath, Idiat Adebule, Lagos State deputy governor, on Tuesday, October 2, declared that she was standing by the decision of the party on the candidature of Sanwo-Olu as the standard bearer for 2019 governorship election. Adebule told reporters at Ward A and D in Ojo Local Council Development Area where she participated in the primaries that “the party has chosen a man and it is that man that I will support and follow.”
Apart from Adebula and Obasa, Kehinde Bamgbetan, commissioner of Information and Strategy, in the state had also announced his decision to vote against Ambode at the primaries.
The situation in the Lagos State APC is understandable. Tinubu and the party hierarchy are done with Ambode. A similar or near same intrigues and factionalisation are being experienced in some other states where the APC had primaries.
In fact, some of the APC governors had a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to thrash out the disputes emanating from the party primaries on Thursday, October 4. The governors who had met with the president over the primaries included Rochas Okorocha (Imo); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara); Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi); Sani Bello (Niger); Simon Lalong (Plateau); Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo); and Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa).
Okorocha, chairman of the APC Governors Forum, while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of their closed-doors meeting with the president, said the leadership of the ruling APC must do the right thing and allow everybody to participate in its ongoing nationwide primaries. He confirmed that the meeting, which lasted for about two hours, was about the rancorous party primaries across the country.
He expressed the belief that the party leadership would rescind some of its decision on the matter, saying the APC believes in justice, equity and fairness. He said: “We came to review the various crises characterising our primaries, with a view to finding solution. So, we are looking for a way out in this regard. We are going to find solution; our party believes in justice, equity and fairness. We are requesting that let the right thing be done and let everyone contest the elections.”
Whatever be the case, it appears, the APC has a lot of messy cases to tackle. The grievances of the governors of Zamfara, Ondo, Kaduna and Ogun are on the mode of primaries and automatic tickets issued to some serving senators. These governors in various ways accused the national leadership of the party led by Adams Oshiomhole of imposition of candidates.
Some of them also kicked against the mode of primaries adopted for their various states by the party headquarters.
On Tuesday, October 2, the national secretariat of the APC released a list of ‘cleared’ aspirants in a move to grant automatic tickets to some senators whom the party described as ‘loyal,’ thereby further worsening the frosty relationship between the governors and Oshiomhole.
The action similarly affected cronies of governors warming up to dislodge some senators who are believed to be at loggerheads with their governors. Hence, the governors had insisted that party primaries be held to determine the party’s flag-bearer in the 2019 senatorial poll instead of the automatic endorsement of incumbent senators.
On Wednesday evening, October 3, both El-Rufai and Akeredolu visited the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to meet with Buhari. Both governors have a similar problem with Oshiomhole. They accused him of granting automatic senatorial tickets to a ‘disloyal’ senator from each of their states.
Indeed, the automatic ticket that was recently given to Shehu Sani, a serving senator, who is currently representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, was the only candidate cleared for the seat going by the list released by the APC national body on Tuesday, October 2. This has tactically disqualified Uba Sani, his main rival and a close ally of El-Rufai. The action has also led to the demand for the immediate upturning of the decision by the state chapter.
Perhaps sensing he may be outmanoeuvred by the APC headquarters, Uba Sani on Wednesday, October 3, approached a high court in Kaduna, to stop the ruling party from conducting the primaries to select the party’s candidate for the district.
The court ordered Oshiomhole, the electoral commission, INEC, and the incumbent senator, to maintain the status-quo prior to October 2, “when the APC excluded Uba Sani and other aspirants from the contest in favour of one aspirant.”
Shehu Sani, it is widely known, has been at loggerheads with El-Rufai since 2015. The senator was suspended by the Kaduna APC loyal to the governor, a suspension upturned by the national leadership. He was among the APC senators many Nigerians expected to defect from the party earlier this year. But he has remained in the party due to the interventions of party leaders such as Oshiomhole and Tinubu.
However, El-Rufai and his loyalists appear to be insisting that Shehu Sani should not be allowed to run for the Senate again.
In Ondo State, Akeredolu is sour by the award of an automatic ticket by the NWC to Robert Boroffice, the senator representing Ondo North senatorial district. The senator has been at loggerheads with his governor since the latter’s 2016 governorship election when the senator supported another APC governorship aspirant. The committee disqualified Tunji Abayomi, a human rights activist, and Victor Olabimtan, former speaker of the State House of Assembly, paving way for Ajayi Borofice to contest the senatorial election for the third time.
Similarly, Tayo Alasoadura (Central) and Yele Omogunwa (South), were also awarded automatic tickets, while their opponents in the primaries were disqualified.
The state chapter of the party wants the NWC to reverse the automatic nomination of Boroffice in the interest of fairness to those who had been loyal to the party. They also asked that the NWC of the party to reverse its decision on the disqualification of the aspirants to enable them contest the primaries within 24 hours.
The governor, who also met with Buhari in Abuja, on Wednesday night, accused the NWC of breaching the party’s law. He asked: “Where do they derive powers to disqualify aspirants duly screened and certified fit to stand for election under the guise of giving automatic ticket to incumbent senators and reps members?”
He went further: “This is a declaration of war against our party constitution. The decision to rig out our loyal and committed members from exercising their right after collecting money for nomination form from them was taken by few individuals…
“But from nowhere, a gladiator illegally took a decision to ban my people from exercising their rights and they expected me to comply? This action will certainly boomerang if not addressed.”
However, unlike Kaduna and Ondo states, the main grouse of the outgoing governors of Zamfara and Ogun states is with the stance of the national headquarters on their states’ governorship primaries.
In Zamfara State, Yari kicked against arrangements made to conduct direct primaries to select the party’s governorship candidate. The party had slated Thursday, October 4, for the conduct of its primaries.
The direct primary was scheduled to commence on Tuesday, October 2, but the governor on Monday night said he would not allow the exercise to hold in his capacity as the chief security officer of the state. One of the governor’s major complaints was the exclusion of the party executives from the exercise. He claimed this would lead to a breakdown of law and order.
The governor has also been at loggerheads with Kabiru Marafa, the senator representing Zamfara Central, which is believed to be why the governor is opposed to direct primaries in the state. Marafa, alongside seven other aspirants had advocated for direct primaries due to the factionalisation of the party.
One of the APC factions in the state is loyal to the governor while the other is loyal to Marafa.
The primaries, which eventually held on Wednesday, October 3, ended abruptly amidst report of violence and deaths.
Subsequently, the Zamfara State Governorship Primaries Committee announced the cancellation of the primaries held in the state, stating wide spread election malpractices including snatching of election materials and result sheets by the State’s government officials which were taken to the Government House, Gusau. According to a statement by Yekini Nabena, national publicity secretary of the APC, the process was also marred by violence.
Just like Zamfara, the main grouse of Ogun State chapter of the APC with the national leadership of the APC is the mode of primaries. The state also accused Oshiomhole of plotting to impose a governorship candidate on the party.
On Wednesday, October 3, two parallel governorship primaries were held in Ogun producing two different winners. While Derin Adebiyi, the state chairman of the party, declared Adekunle Akinlade, a member of the House of Representatives, as the winner, the electoral panel sent by the National Working Committee, NWC, declared Dapo Abiodun, an oil mogul, the winner. The two groups claimed they held the authentic primary as ordered by the NWC.
Muhammad Ndabawa, who led the NWC Electoral Committee members, declared that Abiodun, who hails from Ogun East Senatorial District, scored 102,305 votes from the 236 wards across the 20 local governments to emerge the candidate.
According to Ndabawa, Jimi Lawal scored 51,153 votes, Abimbola Ashiru 29,764, Gbenga Kaka 17,771, Abayomi Hunye 9,110 votes and Adekunle Akinlade 23, 443 votes.
Nevertheless, Ndabawa said that the declaration of Abiodun as winner “is subject to ratification by the National Working Committee of the party.”
He claimed ignorance of the exercise that produced Akinlade. “Our committee is the authentic body constituted by the NWC to conduct and supervise governorship primary in the state in line with the party guidelines and constitution,” Ndabawa said.
On his part, Adebiyi, who announced the alternative results at the party secretariat in Abeokuta, also claimed that the direct primaries were conducted across the 236 wards of the state. He said that the exercise was conducted through the open secret ballot system in accordance with the party guidelines on direct primaries.
According to him, six aspirants contested for the governorship position including Jimi Lawal, Abayomi Hounye and Bimbo Ashiru, a former state commissioner for Commerce and Industry, in the state.
Others are Adegbenga Kaka, a former deputy governor of the state, Dapo Abiodun, the chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission, and Akinlade who is representing Ipokia/Egbado-South Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives.
A breakdown of the result announced by Adebiyi on local government basis shows that Akinlade won in all the 20 council areas of the state, scoring a total of 190,987 votes. Lawal came second with a total of 5, 046 votes while Abiodun came third with 3, 648 votes.
Ashiru scored 898, Kaka 833 and and Hounye 208 votes to emerge fourth, fifth and sixth.
Adebiyi said that the primaries were supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and security agencies.
The chairman who described the national electoral committee of the party as being “compromised” said the committee was not in town to conduct the primaries. He explained that the committee had continued to postpone the exercise which was originally scheduled to hold on Saturday, September 29, insisting that the party leadership is vested with the responsibility of overseeing the affairs of the party in the state.
In the same vein, there were two parallel primaries in the APC, Delta State. On Monday, the two parallel governorship primaries declared Pat Utomi, a professor of Political Economy, and Great Ogboru, a business tycoon, as the winners of the governorship candidates of the party.
While the faction led by Cyril Ogodo declared Utomi as the candidate of the party, the one led by Jones Erue picked Ogboru, who was the 2015 governorship candidate of the Labour Party, for the 2019 governorship election.
Utomi and Ogboru both defeated two other aspirants including Victor Ochei, a former speaker of the state House of Assembly, and Cairo Ojougboh, a former national deputy chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Both primaries began on Sunday through Monday before results were declared. The primaries held simultaneously at Nero’s Hotels and Federal College of Education (Technical) both in Asaba.
In the purported primaries Utomi polled 2,486 votes to defeat three other aspirants for the governorship ticket of the APC at the primary which was generally peaceful. Ochei polled 801 to come distant second while Ojougboh scored 368 votes to come third. Ogboru came fourth with 106 votes. A total of 3, 755 votes were cast by delegates.
However, Ogboru emerged in another parallel primary which was conducted and supervised by Lawrence Onoja, a retired major-general, who doubled as the returning officer for the exercise. Ogboru, who is contesting for the fifth time to rule the oil-rich state, was declared winner at a primary organised by Erue-led factional state executive committee.
Also in Rivers State, two governorship candidates emerged in the primaries conducted by two factions of the APC on Sunday, September 30. They are Tonye Cole and Magnus Abe, a serving senator.
Cole was declared victorious in the indirect governorship primary held in Port Harcour,t on Sunday, when he polled 3,329 votes while Dawari George, his closest rival, got 491 votes. Dumo Lulu-Briggs came a distant third with 38 votes while Abe got one vote.
Eighteen votes were declared void by the Jafar Isah-led Rivers Governorship Primary Committee.
The primaries which gave Cole his victory was led by Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor and minister of Transport. Amaechi has repeatedly declared that he would not support Abe, his former aide and friend to contest the governorship election.
But at another primaries held by the APC faction loyal to Abe, the senator was declared the winner of the Sunday’s direct governorship primaries conducted in the three senatorial districts of Rivers State by the APC.
Chigbo Sam Eligwe, the returning officer, made the announcement in a press conference at its Secretariat in Port Harcourt on Sunday. According to him, Abe won with 144,929 votes; followed by Dumo Lulu-Briggs who got 3,344; Dawari George got 1,606 and Tonye Dele Cole received 882 votes.
The results of the primaries were said to have caused tension in Rivers as the APC in the state held two parallel governorship primaries in different parts of the state. While the Amaechi-led APC conducted an indirect primary on the Igboukwu field in D-Line, Port Harcourt, the Magnus Abe faction adopted the direct governorship primary across different local government areas of the state.
Earlier, before the exercise in Port Harcourt by the Amaechi-led APC, there were explosions near the secretariat of the party at about 12.30pm. The last explosion scared supporters of the Amaechi-led APC as most of them rushed out to have a glimpse of what happened less than 50 metres away from the party secretariat. However, the exercise went on peacefully.
Nigerians would be interested on how the party is able to get out of this quagmire.
The situation was not any better in Imo State. The APC governorship primaries in the state had to be suspended indefinitely. The decision to suspend the process was taken by the party’s NWC on Tuesday, October 2. It was conveyed in a statement signed by Yekini Nabena, its acting national publicity secretary. Before the suspension Hope Uzodimma won the governorship primary conducted by a faction of the party while Uche Nwosu, governor Okorocha’s son-in-law won that conducted by another faction.
On Wednesday, October 3, some aggrieved youths from the federal capital territory, FCT, stormed the national secretariat of the APC Abuja chasing away staff and security operatives. The protesters accused Oshiomhole of imposing candidates on them and interfering with the primaries.
Wielding placards with inscriptions such as: “Oshiomhole Steer Clear of FCT Primary”; “We Want Indirect Primary”; “Leadership is Not Activism, Oshiomhole,” among others, demanded the immediate resignation of Oshiomhole. The protesters barricaded the Blantyre Street leading to the secretariat and took over the control of the gate after overwhelming security operatives manning the gate.
Usman Karshi, spokesman of the group, said the protesters were out to protest injustice and “imposition of the mode of election on the FCT and original inhabitants of the territory.”
“We are here to protest injustice; we are here to protest imposition; we are here to sound it loud and clear that we are solidly in support of President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019,” he said.
“We are here to say it to all who have ears that in FCT that result will not be written. We are here to state it loud and clear that FCT APC is going on indirect primary. We are here to make it clear to Mr Oshiomhole that we are comrades and that is why we voted for him as chairman, so we are appealing to his sense of reason.
“He should be reasonable and give us what we want. FCT APC rejects direct primary in FCT.”
It took the intervention of Bala Ciroma, FCT commissioner of Police, for the protesters to disperse.
Unlike in the APC, the fallout of the primaries held to elect candidates for governorship and legislative arms in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, were less rancorous. But some of them were equally marred with intrigues and complaints.
For instance, in Yobe State, the PDP produced senatorial candidates at two parallel primaries. Adamu Waziri, a former minister of Police Affairs and minister of State Agriculture and Water Resources, and Mohammed Hassan, the current senator representing Yobe South Senatorial Zone both emerged as candidates of the PDP for the Zone B senatorial seat at two parallel primaries held in Potiskum, Yobe State on Tuesday.
While the two primaries of the PDP were both held simultaneously in Potiskum town, both Waziri and Hassan claimed victory at each of the exercises amidst their supporters and party fateful.
A similar two parallel were held in Borno State on Sunday to elect candidates to contest the 2019 governorship election in the state. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports said that separate congresses were held by two factions of the party to elect the party’s flag-bearers in the forth coming election.
The Usman Baderi faction held their exercise at the secretariat with only two candidates, Muhammed Wakil and Bukar Kyari, contesting the election. Wakil, a former minister of State Works, said they held separate primaries because they were opposed to the conduct of the election by Zanna Gadama’s faction.
He alleged that Gadama’s faction abused earlier court order, describing the exercise as “null and void.” Wakil claimed that the Court of Appeal had ruled in favour of Baderi as the recognised chairman of the party.
“What the other faction is doing is illegality of the highest order because we are the ones legally recognised by the court of law. So we are conducting election and submitting result to the national body,” he said.
On his part, Kyari lamented that the national working committee of the party chose to recognise an illegal faction despite existing court order. He said: “We as law abiding citizens will not indulge in illegalities, we shall seek redress in competent court of law for our rights.
“Therefore, we will conduct our elections here. We will invite the INEC to monitor it and then come up with the authentic delegates that have been elected this October,” he added.
However, Gadama said his faction had secured a court injunction, which ordered that the status quo be maintained. “The national PDP secretariat recognises only one PDP in Borno, which is the one I am currently heading as a chairman,” he said.
Declaring the result, Gabriel Kataf, the chairman Electoral Committee, said Imam scored 2,685 votes and his closest opponent Kyari scored 52 while Wakil scored 22 votes.
With the results of primaries being in contention in several parts of the country, there is fear that parties’ lack of internal democracy may be a big problem ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Wale Joshua, a doctor, told Realnews that it should be obvious to the political class by now to know that the affairs of the country should not be toyed with if they want to remain relevant. “Internal democracy is as good as general democracy. They should practice what they preach. If they cannot organise themselves because of their selfish interest, Nigerians should tell them that they are not representing us. The problem is that the good people who should be in power are not participating in the process,” Joshua said. He also enjoined Nigerians to rise up and demand that right things must be done for the sake of all.
On his part, Utomi said: “I will petition the appropriate organ of the party, if I go through due process and they fail to do the right thing, if they decide that this is okay by them, then I will quietly resign my membership of the party, become non-partisan, but never give up on the fight against obnoxious coup plotters, who plotted against the military, against civilians and against the constitution of the country. This cannot be the legacy we will leave for our children.” I hope Nigerians can agree with Utomi on this.
– Oct. 5, 2018 @ 15:09 GMT |
Tags: 2019: Party Primaries marred by Intrigues Disputes
