Biola Ademosu
The issue of what method of primary election should be adopted in choosing the APC candidate for the forthcoming governorship election in Osun has become a sore thumb.
Three options can be considered. One is ‘consensus’. Another is direct primary election. And the last one is indirect primary election.
Because there are 17 duly screened aspirants for the election, most of who are not ready to withdraw from the race, the option of ‘consensus’ in picking a candidate is therefore out of the way.
The choice now lies between direct primary election and indirect primary election. But the state chapter of the party is now polarized between the proponents of the former and those agitating for the latter.
The pro-DIRECT are saying:
-that, the method is more democratic, as it affords every member of the party an equal opportunity to determine who represents their party in the general election, thus producing a truly popular and generally acceptable candidate, rather than a system whereby a select few gather somewhere and use their whims to pick someone, whether the rest members are pleased or not.
-that, the method will be less costly as against the indirect method where delegates will be heavily paid, thereby making it a survival of the richest rather than the emergence of the truly wanted.
On their part, the pro-INDIRECT are saying:
-that, even ordinary party congresses are usually bloody, let alone open election to pick a party’s candidate in a critical election like governorship.
-that, inspite of the fact that indirect primary is held in a single place with concentration of vigilance, monitoring and security watch, it is still at times chaotic, such as recently witnessed in the Ekiti State APC primary eletions.
-that, there are 332 wards in Osun, which means that monitoring and providing truly adequate security will have to be multiplied into 332 places.
-that, contrary to the misinformation making the rounds in terms of the cost to the aspirants, there is no doubt that the much-touted direct primary will cost more because, it is a fact that, general or primary election, direct or indirect, Nigerian election is often monitised.
-that, APC delegates in Osun are not less than 5,000.
-that, before the current hullabaloo, some of the aspirants had boasted of having budgeted a minimum of N200, 000 per delegate.
-that, if this is multiplied by 5000 delegates, what you have is N2.5b!
-that, assuming the least spending aspirant gives N50, 000 to a delegate, that means he is spending a minimum of N250, 000, 000.
-that, under a DIRECT primary, the fact as of now is that the exact number of the voters is not known, and is indeed open to infiltration and elimination (depending on who is doing what).
-that, assuming a Ward has 200 members (whereas some wards are made up of two or more communities), that will give you 66, 400 voters state-wide.
-that, by the standard recently witnessed in Ekiti, assuming a voter is given N4, 000 by the least spending aspirant, that will give you a total of N265, 600, 000. (Compare this with the least he may spend under the INDIRECT method).
-that, as a matter of fact, among the said direct voters are the same delegates who were already salivating at the prospect of some jumbo pay,
-that, going by the above, N4, 000 is therefore a ridiculous assumption because party members are equal but some are definitely more equal than others. And the meaning is that, ironically, DIRECT primary election will cost the aspirants more!
-that, to say that direct primary election is more democratic, is a weak conclusion because: Why then were the delegates put in place? Were the delegates not elected by the same general members? Have the general members indicated their lack of confidence in the delegates they elected to represent them? Is it not like putting the National Assembly in place, and still call on all Nigerians to come out and vote upon every decision required to be made by the parliament?
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Direct primary election is more violence-prone.
Direct primary election is like exposing harmless party members to physical dangers.
Direct primary election is costlier to organise.
Direct primary election is not cheaper for the aspirants, as erroneously circulated.
BE A JUDGE
Ademosu is a post-graduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State
