Democracy as a system of government where power and authority is directly derived from the masses is the greatest value system of human civilization.
Besides promoting the inalienable right of man over freedom of choice, it has entrenched the values of peaceful change of government while averting the danger of might is right.
Contemporary scholars like Professor Laski in his book “The Grammar of Politics” emphasised the need to dismantle anything that will constitute a road block to the flourishing of constitutional democracy.
In Nigeria, it is sad to mention that we still have many rivers to cross as there are several impediments towards building the true values of democracy in the country. Just as Mahatma Ghandi expressed worry about the trending issue of politics without conscience, the Nigerian political class represents what Ghandi talked about, as vast majority of the political class believe in nothing but circumventing of due process in riding to power.
The manipulative tendency without any sense of honesty of purpose has cost the nation potential investors, as they have no confidence in the institutions.
The recent APC Bayelsa State governorship election primary, held barely over a month ago is a locus classicus that has become a source of worry within and outside the country.
Listening to a local radio programme in United Kingdom of recent with focus on democracy in Nigeria, one was stunned at how Bayelsa APC primary election became the focus of the programme.
The programme depicted Bayelsa as a state where no free and fair election had ever been held since the birth of democracy. As a Bayelsan myself, one was really ashamed of the ugly narratives about the state and Nigeria in general.
Also, a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) once conducted a research on the conduct of credible election in Nigeria. It delivered a damning verdict on the South-South geo-political zone of recording the worst electoral malpractice in the country, with Bayelsa coming top on the chart.
When the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC announced the date for the Bayelsa governorship primary election scheduled for the 4th of September, 2019, it opened a window of excitement in Bayelsa State by members of the party in the state and beyond.
This is because APC came to power dangling the mantra of the progressive mould, projecting the party as a beacon of hope for the thriving of democracy in all ramifications.
When the governor of Yobe State, Mai-Mala Buni, was announced as the chairman and returning officer for the Bayelsa APC governorship election, it further rekindled the hopes of the party faithful, that being a governor and immediate past national secretary of the party, he would raise the moral bar of conducting a free, fair and credible election.
However, that hope was dashed as it was later proved right by some doubting Thomas’ that had their misgivings as they say a Leopard cannot change its colour. The National Working Committee adopted direct primary as the mode for conducting the primary election.
The party’s electoral committee set up for the conduct of the election arrived Yenagoa, with the state party Secretariat as the venue for collation and announcement of the outcome of the election.
The electoral committee allayed the fears of contestants, especially frontline contestants like Senator Lokpobiri and my humble self, who appealed to the electoral body to distribute the election materials with sense of fairness and equity. For the purpose of fairness, the contestants demanded that the names of returning officers at ward level be published before the election commenced; making available ward result sheets in the various LGAs where elections were to hold, as well as provision of tags for the eight LGA agents across the state.
Interestingly, apart from brazenly brushing these demands aside, the purported distribution of the election materials where election was never held is a rape of democracy and indeed cast a huge doubt on the ideals of the party.
This is where confidence eroded the whole process, paving way to total disenchantment and ill feelings among party members, who had thought the coming of APC was the coming of progressives to do things differently from the past.
What further transpired later was what party members described as a “shame of the century” when the result of the primary was allegedly not only announced barely two hours after the purported “distribution” of election materials, but also announced the result in an hotel by the Secretary of the Electoral Committee, Mr. Emmanuel Ocheja, who was not even the returning officer.
This was like one of the Seven Wonders of the World in a state like Bayelsa where 75% of it is marine and elections usually last for two days. In some of the riverine areas of the state, it takes six (6) hours to get to destinations and one wonders how such magnitude of the conduct of direct primary would last for only two (2) hours. These are pertinent issues that are begging for answers.
It was ridiculous that the electoral committee reduced such an important exercise to mere allocation of imaginary votes. One also wonders how a returning officer and chairman of governorship primary election committee could throw conscience into the wind to endorse a process he never witnessed and allows a collation officer to usurp the powers of chairman of electoral committee to declare a winner; a power which everybody knows cannot be delegated.
It was as deceptive as that of the biblical ”Jacob’s voice, Esau’s hand”. What became much more despicable and disturbing is the fact that the national leadership of the party deliberately jettisoned its own zoning principle as it concerns that of Bayelsa State.
In Bayelsa, there is this internal understanding of the governorship rotating among the three senatorial districts. There is also a micro zoning arrangement where, if a local government had produced a governor and the zoning falls within the LGA’s that make up the zone; the LGA’s that have not produced a governor are expected to be given the opportunity to have the governorship slot.
In the case of Bayelsa, all the political parties zoned their tickets to Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, comprising Southern Ijaw, Yenagoa and Kolokuma-Opokuma local governments.
It is sad to note that Southern Ijaw, which had previously had the slot with late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, has again been given the ticket of APC to Mr. David Lyon from the same Southern Ijaw.
Some political analysts regard the micro zoning of the candidacy of APC to Southern Ijaw LGA “as the height of insensitivity towards the local political aspirations of the people of the state; which will have multiplier effects on the political fortunes of the party despite the noise of “gale of defections” from the PDP to the APC”.
Obviously, the ticket of the party ought to have been given to candidates from either Yenagoa LGA or Kolokuma-Opokuma LGA. But this was ignored because of the self-serving agenda of few individuals.
The conduct of the Bayelsa APC primary has further diminished the moral barometer of the avowed slogan of APC to put in place the true spirit of progressive politics in the front burner.
I have personally studied the politics of Bayelsa State in the past 20 years and it is no overstatement to state the obvious that APC has shut its political foot with devastating effects.
Today, apart from the plethora of cases challenging the outcome of the primary election at the court, there is lack of unity, cohesion in the party like that of a divided kingdom, which cannot stand to confront the PDP in the state.
Some party faithful, like Elder Patrick Miebaikido, believe that “the micro zoning of the candidacy to Southern Ijaw in Bayelsa Central Senatorial District is a monumental error, which the party leadership was hoodwinked into buying the idea.”
Going by the alleged hard facts before the public, there is a general apprehension and uneasy calm among members of the party, believing that for APC candidate to scale the hurdle is like a camel passing through the eye of a needle, as the question marks over the emergence of the party candidate are too many.
Though the issue of party primary is the internal affairs of the party which prevents courts from interfering, by virtue of section 6 of the constitution, the court has the latitude to interfere on any activity which fails to comply with the internal rules of the party.
Moreover, the standard bearer of the APC from Southern Ijaw will impact negatively in the politics of Bayelsa State. Apart from the blatant neglect of the principle of zoning which had built cohesion and unity among the people over the years; by this singular act, APC has sent a dangerous signal that Southern Ijaw with its supposed “voting population” advantage will continue to produce governors, while LGAs like Kolokuma/Opokuma with population disadvantage will not be given the opportunity to take a shot at the governorship of the state. This fact cannot be swept under the carpet.
Rather than promoting unity and sense of belonging among a state that was once united by a common history and destiny, the APC incursion has planted a time bomb which may detonate in the fullness of time.
