I had written an article on ‘Absence of internal democracy: bane of party politics in Nigeria’in 2020 which was widely published by newspapers and bloggers alike. The recent events in the country have propelled me to revisit the topic as Nigerians are well aware of the impact and or the negative effect of not abiding by the process of internal democracy and or nominations by political parties in Nigeria. The recently conducted gubernatorial election in Osun State which revealed that the victory of the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, over the incumbent Governor, Mr. AdegboyegaOyetola, was as a result of the failure of the All Progressives Congress (hereinafter APC) to observe internal democracy in the choice of its candidate and the resultant exclusion of Mr. RaufuAregbesola’s faction of the party is of particular interest.
Internal democracy is the process of governance within a political party and it is the ability of a political party to govern itself through its internal mechanism that enhance its chances at the general election thereby guaranteeing less rancor in the society, providing greater good for the society and making the political environment conducive for the economy of the state to grow. The Electoral Act, 2022 has further entrenched internal democracy in the political space and political parties subject to the cooperation of the political parties. In section 84, the said Act provides, 1) A political party seeking to nominate candidates for election under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the Commission;
To underscore the importance of internal democracy, I refer to the work of Babayo Sule titled ‘Internal Democracy and Nigerian Political Parties: The case of All Progressives Congress’, where he posits:“Internal democracy is an important principle in the operations and survival of democratic regime globally. Lack of internal democracy creates serious intra party conflicts which can likely threaten regime stability and good governance”.
The failure of political parties to adhere strictly to internal democracy is catastrophic and disastrous in that it had in the time past led to the breakup and or implosion of political parties. In the run up to the 2022 primaries conducted by the political parties, four (4) particular constituencies have caught the attention of the press, INEC and Nigerians. The first was the primaries conducted by the APC for Yobe North senatorial district which was won by Mr. Bashir Machina having scored 289 votes out of the 300 votes in the election. However, as at the time of publishing this article, Mr. Bashir Machina’s name has not been sent to the Independent National Election Commission (hereinafter INEC)’s portal by the APC as the Senate President, Alhaji Ahmed Lawan, is trying forcefully to use the party’s machinery to ensure his name is sent to INEC instead of Mr. Bashir Machina even when it was obvious he did not participate in the primary election. INEC says its hands are tied and advised Mr. Bashir Machina to pursue his case in Court. Mr. Bashir Machina has thus been forced to approach the Court to obtain the victory he got in May, 2002 when he won the said senatorial district’s nomination by a landslide. Assuming the Court on account of technicality gives victory to Senator Ahmed Lawan, it may be difficult for the party to win the senatorial district as the popular candidate would not be on the ballot thereby exposing the party to unpalatable and disastrous consequences.
The second primary where internal democracy was abused by the political party was the primary conducted by the APC in Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district which was won by DIG Udom Ekpoudom (rtd) sometime in May, 2022. Subsequently, Senator Godswill Akpabio orchestrated another ‘primary’ which he won. The Resident Electoral Commission in AkwaI bom State, Mr. Mike Igini, has categorically stated that his office was not aware of another senatorial primary election in the senatorial district as the initial election won by one DIG Udom Ekpoudom (rtd) has not been set aside by any court of law. In his words, ‘the report of the Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district APC primaries as submitted to INEC headquarters in Abuja is final. It is concluded. The train has left the station. The timeline is clear. All those who are in politics should go and study the 2022 Electoral Act very well. I hear people talk about substitution. If you look at Section 31 and Section 34 of the Electoral Act, those of you who are still carrying old idea of 2010, 2012 Electoral Acts in your head, thinking you can substitute willfully, it is no longer so’. Inspite of this admonition of Mike Igini, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been parading himself as the senatorial candidate for the said district.
In another scenario, the APC conducted the Ebonyi South senatorial district which was won by Austin Umahi, the younger brother to Mr. David Umahi, the current Governor of Ebonyi State (who was then a presidential candidate of the party). In a dramatic manner, the winner of the senatorial seat’s primary withdrew his candidacy apparently to pave way for a rerun to enable Mr. David Umahi win the rerun. In the course of this development, the Governor filed an action asking the Court to order a rerun which order the Court refused to grant. Meanwhile, the candidate who came second in the senatorial primaries, Mrs. Ann Agom-Eze, insisted she is the candidate of the senatorial district, the former candidate having withdrawn from the race. In the heat of the drama, the APC conducted another senatorial primaries in the said senatorial district which produced Mr. David Umahi (the Governor of Ebonyi State). It seems we have not heard the last word on this senatorial district as the 2ndprimaries may not have the imprimatur of INEC which is statutorily empowered to monitor the election by Section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 as opposed to the silence of the Electoral Act, 2010 on monitoring of parties’ primaries by INEC.
The last of the troublesome primaries involved the PDP’s Ebonyi State gubernatorial primaries which has till date not been settled. The initial primaries produced one Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii as the candidate of the party. Consequent upon the Court order setting aside the composition of the State Working Committee of the party, the National Working Committee (hereinafter NWC) of the party ordered a fresh primary. The fresh primaries conducted by the party produced Senator Obinna Ogba as the gubernatorial candidate. Both Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii and Senator Obinna Ogba are in Court over the matter.
The aim of this article is to espouse the unpalatable consequences of a party not observing internal democracy in its primaries considering that section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 makes the monitoring of primaries by INEC compulsory. The particular subsection ends in the following words; ‘…which shall be monitored by the Commission’. It is thus imperative to state that any primaries not monitored by the INEC is invalid, null and void. This is however subject to the Court’s interpretation of the said section.
Another example of abuse of internal democracy by the political parties in Nigeria is the issue of violence perpetrated by agents of the candidates, political thugs and political parties who may not be able to win in a fair contest. The issue of violence manifested in the 2019 Zamfara State APC Gubernatorial primaries. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by its Guidelines directed that all political parties must conduct their primaries before the 7th of November, 2018. The All Progressives Congress in the first instance could not agree on the type of primaries, direct or indirect, as provided by Section 87 (2) of the Electoral Act, 2010. The APC Ward, Local Government and State Congresses were conducted in violation of an order of the Federal High Court. The result was that the ‘combatants’ were unable to agree on the form the party primaries should take and therefore were unable to hold any. The aftermath was the case of APC v Marafa(2020) 6 NWLR (Pt.1721) p. 383.
In Rivers State, the All Progressives Congress could not hold its Ward, Local Government and State Congresses due to the raging internal conflict between the supporters of Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe. The party was therefore unable to conduct its gubernatorial primaries which resulted in its inability to produce a candidate for gubernatorial Election in 2019. The same scenario repeated itself in 2022 in the state with Senator Magnus Abe decamping to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to become their gubernatorial candidate thereby reducing and or eliminating the chances of the APC to confront the PDP in the State in the general election.
The obvious consequences of a party not observing internal democracy has led to loss of election in the affected constituencies: Rivers and Zamfara States in 2019; Osun State in 2022; the loss of gubernatorial election by PDP in Ekiti State in 2022; AkwaI bom North West senatorial district in 2022;Ebonyi South senatorial district in 2022;Yobe North senatorial district in 2022 and many other districts that have been affected by the inability to abide by the provisions of section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (a new Act with radical innovations). However, it appears that our political actors still consider its provisions with the eyes of 2010 thereby overlooking the part of the Act which states as follows; ‘which shall be monitored by the Commission, a clear departure from the provision in the 2010 Electoral Act.
In concluding this piece, I make bold to say that internal democracy will be enhanced in Nigeria with the several innovations introduced by the 2022 Electoral Act and the insistence on due process by INEC. The provision of section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, thus ‘A political party seeking to nominate candidates for election under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the Commission’ is a radical and revolutionary departure from the past provision of the Electoral Act with respect to the participation of INEC at primaries. It is now compulsory for the political parties seeking to nominate candidates for election to notify the INEC and such primaries shall be monitored by the Commission. The purport of the new provision is to the effect that an election primary not monitored by INEC is invalid; primaries monitored by INEC consequent to which it issued its report cannot be set aside by the political party. The political party cannot conduct another primary because the outcome of the first exercise did not yield the desired result of the stakeholders (as was done in Ebonyi South, Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West senatorial districts by the APC).
It is my candid view that our courts should be strict in the exercise of their supervisory jurisdiction in the interpretation of section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022as it pertains to the monitoring of the primaries of the political parties by INEC. If the Court is not strict it may spell doom for our political parties, a waste of the time of INEC and the enormous resources spent in monitoring the exercises if the political party are allowed to jettison INEC’s report with levity.
Lastly, it is suggested that section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 should be amended to empower INEC to reject outright the names sent to its portal by political parties that are not in conformity with 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 instead of asking aggrieved candidates to pursue their case in Court.
ADEBOLA O. LEMA ESQ is a Lagos based Legal Practitioner and Managing Partner of Fountain Court Partners. He can be reached via email: addebolamaclema@gmail.com
