Suddenly, within a decade and a half, party politics, in the reckoning of genuinely fair-minded observers, has earned its place as the unyielding reservoir of frightening national depression. And as this feeling intensifies among the citizenry, the inclination towards national disbelief would hardly be kept at bay. Every day, the urge to dismiss that animating dream of a vibrant democratic nation gets stronger as Nigerian politicians – especially the ones holding offices at all the levels of government – perpetually exhibit a brazen betrayal of the promise and optimism held out for democracy at the end of military dictatorship more than fifteen years ago. In their typical self-declared effort to ‘move the country forward,’ our politicians have systematically thrown it into reverse gear and heedlessly guided it toward the precipice, thereby priming a hard-earned democracy for an annihilation of unimaginable consequences. And so in view of what is fast turning out to be a gradual replacement of hope with horror, one would not be exaggerating to say that this democracy is in full retreat. A clear indication of this dismal outlook is the primaries recently concluded by the various political parties. Except perhaps the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which has a convincing trace of a transparently credible process, all other primary elections across the parties can only be summed up in one word: travesty. Should you ever attempt to look for what conspired to consummate the mockery that defined these events, look no further than the petty-minded state governors, the corrupt party organs and the dishonest ‘godfathers’ lurking around shamelessly in all the political parties and governments across Nigeria. In most cases, these agents of extraction already had ‘anointed’ aspirants including but not limited to governors themselves, party stalwarts and their spouses, their sons and daughters whom they imposed on others, thus forcing those willing to contest alongside the ‘anointed’ to back out by whatever detestable means including threats. Those who had the guts to defy such orders and insist on testing their popularity at the polls succumbed to the clout of the clique who ensured they were duly rigged out by the party machinery which easily denied them equal chance of success with the ‘anointed.’ In other words, there was a glaring absence of a level playing field all through – the same problem over which concerned Nigerians have been shouting themselves hoarse since the start of this democracy. One way in which blatant rigging was perfected in these primaries was through the delegates who voted at the elections. The list containing delegates’ names, which can be described as a micro voters’ register of elected ad hoc and statutory delegates that ought to be available to all stakeholders including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was hijacked and manipulated by some party chieftains. In a desperate move that bespeak pure fraud, governors, together with a few top shots in the parties, commandeered the list of delegates and ensured that only the names of those who will carry out their wish formed the majority. While the ‘anointed’ aspirants were helped with easy access to these delegates with whom they mapped out strategies for dubious victories, disfavoured aspirants were effectively shut out, and thus forced to go into elections without the benefit seeing the list of delegates, let alone knowing who they were. On occasion, as many as three different lists of delegates were circulated for a particular election with only the ‘anointed’ aspirants knowing which one was authentic. Delegates themselves, shorn of any modicum of reliability, basked in their status as the ‘beautiful bride’ and purchasable commodities mainly available to the highest bidder. Godwin oyeocholem
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 08:11:33 +0000
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