From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
A civil society group, Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC), has said the Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary that produced Hon Biodun Oyebanji as the party’s candidate for the June 18 poll showed that direct primary remains the best option for political parties in Nigeria.
The group said while there could be different options like indirect and consensus, direct primary offers the greatest opportunity for robust participation.
The coalition of groups established close to two decades ago, said its observation while monitoring the APC primary held on Thursday, January 27, in the state, indicated that the election had its pitfalls, but that the poll proved that direct participation of members of political parties in choosing the parties’ candidates remains the best option for Nigeria.
In its preliminary reports, jointly signed by the group’s Programme Officer, Fred Ojinika and its South West Coordinator, Odebunmi Ajayi, on Saturday, said ” the primary was not without minor hitches but that it represented the wish and aspirations of the majority of members of APC in Ekiti State.”
The group advised Nigerians to disregard reports being released by people who did not witness or monitor the primary, saying “these are people guided by stereotyping, wild assumptions and aspirants who saw the primary as a must-win venture.”
The NHRC, a coalition of civil society groups spread across Nigeria, said: “It was the only civil society body that monitored the APC primary election in Ekiti State.”
The coalition said it had earlier written to the major stakeholders of the party indicating its intention to monitor the primary election, adding that the NHRC is in possession of audio and visual evidence of several polling units, wards and communities in order to produce an authentic and verifiable account of the primary.
The coalition said the outcome of the primary was seen celebrated across the State in rural and urban communities by the young, the old, men and women alike indicating an expression of a popular choice.
“We saw people’s enthusiasm, confidence and trust in democracy. Even in the face of prevailing challenges, people feel honoured and excited that they were involved in choosing who would represent their political party at the poll. This feeling of excitement strengthens the prospect of greater inclusion and public participation in party internal democracy.’
NHRC said it will be unfair to undermine this unique signpost associated with the Direct Primary in Ekiti State.
It said the best way to prevent rigging was to use Direct Primary since “Nigerian politicians protesting the outcome of every election has become a ritual and a ritual.”
The group which had deployed 350 monitors spread across the 177 wards and thousands of polling units said its observations and recommendations will be forwarded to the National Assembly and all the registered political parties in the country.
The group said Direct Primary has many advantages over other methods that have been proposed adding that this has been proven by the results of the Ekiti primary.
“There is no perfect system anywhere. The Ekiti Primary demonstrated inclusion and expressed the potential and powers possessed by the electorate and their ability to make tremendous input into the process that produced the candidate of the party they belong.”
On security, the group said generally the election was peaceful and well-coordinated without any loss of lives, inflicting of injury on any voter or the employment of any armed group by all the stakeholders.
The NHRC said ‘many voters interviewed were of the opinion that knowing the tempestuous nature of the terrain and the fiercely democratic credentials of Ekiti people, found in their long-lasting history, if the outcome of the primary had been against public expectation, there would have been massive protests in some parts or across the entire state.”
It commended all the aspirants for a show of concern for peaceful public participation in the process of choosing the candidate of the party for the June 18 gubernatorial election.
NHRC said it regretted that it could not monitor the primary election of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state due to the indirect nature of the primary which was conducted in a close circuit.
The NHRC said the APC primary process was without intimidation, harassment or visible threats to the voters or the aspirants.
“The returning officers were punctual in all the polling units, accreditation was conducted largely without violence, party membership or voters cards were used by the party members and there was no visible indication that voters were prompted by financial gains.”
The coalition said that “the emergence of Biodun Oyebanji of APC and Olabisi Kolawole of the PDP was an indication that Ekiti people are not divided along primordial lines since the two candidates until 1996 are from the same local government and are from neighbouring towns.”
The NHRC said that “there were reports that all the aspirants gave money to each ward said to be for mobilisation of voters before the election.”
The group said on the day of the election, there were attempts by unidentified sources trying to use social media to spread misinformation during the voting process adding that the impact of the negative news and false claims of postponement did not influence the attitude of voters and the outcome of the primary.
The NHRC “said the reports of some of the candidates’ withdrawal from the race while voting was ongoing were unfortunate adding that the attitude was like a football team withdrawing at halftime only to blame the linesmen, the referee and other officiating officers for the outcome of the game.”
“It is our considered opinion that the candidates should have raised objections earlier but not when the voting was already at its peak.
“It would have been worst if the primary had been by consensus or through an indirect primary. Given the controversy associated with the build-up to the primary election, direct primary appears to be the only means that could assuage what appeared to be preconceived prejudices within the political space.”
On grey areas, NHRC said there was no voting in Ward B in Iyin Ekiti. It said, “in some wards, coordinators of some of the aspirants decamped from their principal to join Mr Abiodun Oyebanji on the day of voting while in many Wards, some aspirants had no representatives to carry their banner for voters to identify with them.”
The group also said, “some of the aspirants had no manifestoes but relied on massive posters without critical reflection on their economic and social programmes that could make an impact on the lives of the people.”
NHRC also said the process remains devoid of youth participation adding that almost all the aspirants are above 50 years indicating minimal youth participation in the process. It also raised the issue of gender adding that there was zero women participation in the entire process which is not good for Democratic development.
It urged youths and women to change the narratives by developing the zeal to participate fully in future elections.
It also added that in some polling booths, the lines were too long indicating that Ekiti State needs more polling units, a situation that should be addressed by INEC.
The NHRC said it will produce a comprehensive report to be distributed to political parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the hope that the recommendations will be useful in Nigeria’s search for sustainable development.