Towards Peaceful Party Primaries

The countdown to this year’s governorship election in Anambra State has fully started, with the commencement of the primary elections of political parties. While some have already done theirs, others are about to follow suit.

However, it is at this time that various parties are thrown into crises occasioned by greedy or inordinately ambitious politicians who want to grab power at all costs. Already in Anambra State, we can see this in some major parties like the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.

In  APGA, we are experiencing a sacking galore, with different camps trying to claim authenticity. In PDP, a group is wielding a court judgement with which it claims legitimacy. This scenario has only succeeded in unnecessarily heating up the policy and casting doubts on the credibility of politicians. This is certainly no way to go.

Every party has its guidelines for primary elections and similar matters. There is also the Electoral Law which parties are obligated to comply with. So why the usual confusion witnessed during this period?

The tragedy of these crises is that they are coming when the state is almost making a clean break from her tempestuous past. Then, a few individuals would sit in the comfort of their homes or hotel rooms and concoct and manipulate either delegates’ lists or results of primaries to favour particular aspirants. This in turn made it impossible for those who lost out to accept the results.

They would then resort to litigation which lasted from then till well after the main elections. This was why sometimes, those elected governors were sacked by the courts owing to muddled up primaries that did not conform to the guidelines of the Electoral Law.

What is happening now shows that politicians have either not learned from past experiences or are not willing to learn.

Democracy is all about allowing the will of the majority of the people to prevail. All parties should therefore endeavour to carry everyone along and choose their candidates freely through a transparent process. This way, those who fail to make it will at least be satisfied that they were not cheated. This in turn will eliminate court cases that end up distracting those elected to serve their people.

We dare say that what is playing in some parties so far leave much to be desired and will only cause more problems that they will solve. We therefore urge all parties and individuals to observe democratic ethos and take no action that will diminish the process.

Those who truly desire to serve the state should do nothing that will not glorify their parties and the state.