NDC Primaries: A Tale Of Endangered Democracy

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While the APC battles the toga of a party allegedly castrated by the erosion of internal democra­cy, the ADC has sadly added its own chapter after its primaries, marred by name-calling and re­criminations. The NDC has now reinforced the growing percep­tion that, beneath different ban­ners and lofty rhetoric, many political parties share the same political DNA when it comes to the practice of internal democ­racy.

Not a few Nigerians thought the NDC would come to equity with clean hands on this matter. But its recently concluded pri­maries leave many wondering if, indeed, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

With a seemingly enviable an­tecedent on the floor of the Red Chamber and a firm stance on national issues, Seriake Dickson, a chief protagonist and pilot of the NDC, cuts the figure of a be­lievable fellow, reputed to do the right thing even under pressure. Yet, the outcomes of the NDC’s primaries so far point south.

Indeed, the NDC has gone through the baptism of fire as disgruntled aspirants drag the party’s leadership all over the place over allegations of manip­ulation, high-handedness, unfair dealings, imposition, and the like. A good case in point is the activ­ist-turned-politician, Aisha Yesu­fu, who saw the inner rot of party politics. The clear lessons from the shenanigans of the NDC’s primaries is that: all political parties in this country share a common ancestry, and that slo­ganeering does not alter their DNA in any form. “Mago-ma­go,” “wuru-wuru,” treachery, and group interests most times rise above party interests. And individual interest outside the inner caucus is no interest at all.

It appears the movement of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwank­waso, and the emptying of their support base into the NDC, came with an extremely sharp double-edged sword. Like the im­pact Obi had on the Labour Par­ty, this “free-meal” ticket brings both fortune and distress for the NDC. Yes, party membership hit record highs within a few days, but it also attracted all manner of aspirants, political jobbers, and jokers hoping to ride Obi’s eupho­ria to clinch the party ticket and possibly win cheaply, if history repeats itself.

Many of these wannabes will be shocked to learn that the dy­namics of the 2027 election have changed. Obi’s staunch support­ers may focus solely on their candidate, while others will fight for their own shirts – especially since almost everyone who rode the Obi wave to political victory promptly abandoned the Labour Party and joined other parties at the slightest provocation.

But the more serious dis­course is this: how come all the parties seem to lack integrity, sincerity, and a true sense of re­sponsibility in enshrining equi­ty, justice, fair play, and internal democracy in Nigeria’s political space? Almost all opposition par­ties called the APC unprintable names and projected implosion post-primaries. Yet, like a pack of worthless cards, each has be­come a laughing stock – a shame­ful representation of what true democratic processes should be.

To say democracy is endan­gered in Nigeria, given the con­duct of various party primaries, is to state the obvious. Political parties have become mere spe­cial-purpose vehicles, cobbled together by a few moneybags for the purpose of grabbing power by any means necessary, even if it means branding the incumbent as the devil incarnate.

Nigeria groans for a democ­racy where political parties are driven by sound, distinctive ide­ologies as the supreme guide for political engagement, and where well-researched, pragmatic, peo­ple-oriented manifestos serve as vehicles for delivering tangible, measurable dividends of democ­racy. Parties whose leaders are not a band of conspirators unit­ed to access the national treasury for personal aggrandizement. Parties of just men and women where power is not the goal, but an instrument for changing the socio-economic landscape of the country.

Judging by the outcomes from most of the parties on parade, the call for national mourning is not hyperbole – it is inevitable. Here lies a nation destined for great­ness, yet shackled by a few whose god is their belly. Until parties reform their DNA and submit to the discipline of internal democ­racy, Nigeria’s ballot will remain a marketplace of betrayal, and the electorate mere spectators at the funeral of their own expec­tations.