THOUGHTS ON PARTY PRIMARIES

Nick Dazang 

Since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999, our political parties have been defined by abject lack of ideology and internal democracy.

Informed largely by platitudes, the political parties are similar in outlook. They are a motley collection distinguished by name only. Most Nigerians, on account of their being bereft of any lofty direction or principles, view them condescendingly as Special Purpose Vehicles(SPVs). They are to be used and discarded at will.

Candidates are imposed with abandon. The process of leadership recruitment is often shambolic. At other times, it is hopelessly rigged or manipulated.

Against this unwholesome backdrop, the party primaries, which by the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), ought to come to a close today(30th May 2026), are bound to be subjected to diligent and rigorous scrutiny.

As at the time of authoring this piece(several hours to the expiration of INEC’s deadline), the All Progressives Congress(APC), African Democratic Congress(ADC), Peoples Redemption Party(PRP), Social Democratic Party(SDP) and African Action Congress(AAC), have produced their presidential candidates.

So have the two factions of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP). Other parties, led notably by the Nigeria Democratic Congress(NDC), were expected to ratify/affirm their presidential flag bearers.

The primaries saw the upset of several politicians who had held sway nearly since the commencement of the Fourth Republic. Ranking members of the National Assembly were defeated by hitherto political unknowns. This is a healthy development as it gives room for the prospect of newly elected members with probably fresh ideas.

To a large extent, not a few candidates, especially Governors, were returned unopposed or via consensus. Such wholesale endorsements could suggest that their constituents were satisfied with their stewardships.

But in most cases where direct primaries took place because consensus was not achieved and contests took place, there were a legion of challenges across the political parties. Candidates were foisted, sometimes rough-shod. In Bauchi State, for instance, a governorship candidate was allegedly imposed by the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, reportedly, at the behest of the presidency. Professor Isa Ali Pantami, who stridently complained of being rigged in the Gombe State governorship primaries, was suddenly imposed as candidate of the Nwike-led PDP to the chagrin of other contestants.

Allegations of rigging were rife across board. In Nasarawa State, a former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu Abubakar, shrilly objected to the conduct of the APC governorship primaries. In the same vein, the daughter of the President, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, rejected, outright, the conduct of the primaries of the APC in some parts of Lagos State. She alleged that the results for Mushin, Agege, and Ojokoro Federal Constituencies did not reflect the will of party members.

Two of the major presidential contenders in the ADC, Rotimi Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, rejected the outcome of their primaries even before it was officially announced. Both alleged that irregularities visited the process and that it was deeply flawed and lacking in credibility.

In some parties, only anointed aspirants were cleared to contest while others were barred all together. In Rivers State, only APC aspirants loyal to and aligned with the former Governor and FCT Minister, Nyesome Wike, were cleared to contest. The Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, withdrew from the contest at the last minute. He cited what he referred to as the peace and stability of the State as his reasons.

To give the semblance of a contest, in its presidential primaries, the governing APC made room for an opponent against the incumbent, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But the fact that the contestant, one Stanley Osifo, is nondescript and has no political name recognition, tends to suggest that it may have been contrived merely to give the facade of democracy at work.

Several contestants were either miffed or frustrated by the primaries. While others chose to toe the party line by accepting their fates with calmness, others promptly defected to other parties.

Professor Pantami found solace in the Nwike-led PDP. Former IGP Abubakar crossed over to the SDP while Ovie-Omo-Agege, former Deputy Senate President, and a Delta State Governorship aspirant on the platform of the APC, berthed his ship at the NDC.

The conduct of the primaries has a number of implications for our elections, politics good governance and democracy.

The primaries give us an inking and foretaste of the conduct of the 2027 General Elections. They show clearly that the challenges of manipulation, rigging and other malfeasances are still with us. They are thus likely to muddy, if not undermine, the conduct of these elections.

The imposition of candidates and the crude manner other aspirants were barred, shows crystal clearly that we are yet to overcome the challenge of lack of internal democracy in our political parties. A person who is not democratic or who does not defer to democratic practices and norms cannot conceivably carry himself in a democratic manner.

Like the well-worn saying goes, you cannot give what you do not have.

The defections that followed hot on the heels of the conduct of the primaries are certainly going to affect the fortunes of the parties which allowed the imposition of candidates and manipulation of the primaries. Those who defected are likely to do so with their aggrieved supporters.

The clumsy manner in which the primaries were conducted is also likely to task and strain the mechanisms and abilities of the parties to resolve disputes and assuage the anger of those who feel shortchanged. Few of the parties are likely to summon or command the gumption to reach out to disaffected members and to paper over the cracks ahead of the elections.

Rather than for the primaries to set their sights on genuine leadership recruitment, with deference to the wishes of their party members, they obsessed with securing tickets, willy, nilly for their preferred candidates. This will not bode well for the parties. Neither will it for good governance and our democracy.