Probing APC, PDP primaries

The 2019 general elections may be in dire-straight if the petition by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate allegations of corruption during the recent primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is given effect.
In the petition dated November 10, 2018 and signed by its senior legal adviser, Bamisope Adeyanju, the SERAP said allegations of bribe payments by candidates to political parties and party officials would undermine the principles of representative and accountable government.
“Whether or not the allegations are true, the fact that both parties have repeatedly accused each other of corruption raises significant concerns about the influence of money in Nigerian politics and public positions being given in return for cash. If true, the allegations that officials of leading political parties engaged in corrupt acts would weaken public confidence in the electoral and democratic process, and send a damaging message that public offices are for sale and that politicians are interested in public offices only for themselves and not for the common good.
“The allegations of bribe payments by candidates to political parties and party officials should be thoroughly investigated and anyone suspected to be involved prosecuted if the country’s political parties are to win back the trust of citizens.
“When officials of political parties sell access to public offices in return for money, the entire institutions of governance are invariably compromised. SERAP urges both the EFCC and ICPC to proactively act to ensure greater level of transparency and accountability and reduce the risk of corruption among political parties if Nigeria is not to continue to witness damaging allegations of corruption involving political parties.”
“Political corruption undermines the fundamental role of political parties in a democratic system including that of serving as an essential tool of expression of the political will of citizens,” the petition said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had directed all the political parties to conduct primaries as required by Section 87 (6) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and submit their list of candidates to it not later than October 18, 2018 for Presidential and National Assembly and November 2, 2018 for Governorship and State Houses of Assembly.
But by the deadline, according to the INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, only eight of Nigeria’s 91 political parties have submitted the names of their candidates. The ruling APC and main opposition PDP had drawbacks in the submission of candidates’ lists largely due to crises in their primaries conducted in some states including Zamfara, Kaduna, Delta, Adamawa, Imo, Niger, among others.
Hours to the deadline, party faithful in most of the states were not sure who their candidates will be for certain positions. The alleged irregularities that trailed these primaries gave rise to large scale acrimony and discontent with some aggrieved party members seeking legal redress in court while others opted for new political platforms to realise their political ambitions.
In Adamawa state, two of the aspirants who were challenging Governor Muhammed Jibrilla for the APC ticket, former chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, and Mahmud Ahmed, an in-law to President Muhammadu Buhari, both accused the panel sent by the national headquarters of the party of conniving with the governor to declare him the candidate when elections were never conducted.
In the very serious case of Zamfara, INEC had barred APC from submitting the list of candidates from the state for various elective positions on the ground that the party failed to hold primary before the deadline of October 8.
However, APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, disputed INEC’s position that no primaries were held by the party, insisting that voting is not the only mode to produce a candidate in a primary according to electoral laws. However, a Zamfara state High Court presided over by Mukhtar Yushau has issued an interim order restraining the APC and INEC from disqualifying the party’s candidates from the state.
Worse still, APC former Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank, had accused the Oshiomhole of receiving over $50 million in bribe during the primaries for the emergence of candidates for next year’s elections. Oshiomhole has denied the allegation and threatened legal action.
Interestingly, the APC and PDP held their presidential primaries on October 6 in Abuja and Port Harcourt, respectively. But while APC had an easy sail with its presidential primaries as it simply adopted the sole candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari, PDP’s motley crowd of over 20 presidential aspirants tarred it primaries with allegations of unbridled corruption. Some delegates were allegedly induced with over $9,000 to vote for a particular aspirant, in violation of the Electoral Act.
We are, therefore, in sync with SERAP’s petition to the anti-corruption agencies to investigate the parties’ primaries with a view to unravel the extent of irregularities and mete out appropriate punishments to the culprits. This will go a long way to serve as deterrent to dark forces that are bent on retarding the nation’s democratic evolution.

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