4th December, 2014
As political parties’ primaries for various elective positions take place all over Nigeria, there is need for a level playing field for all the aspirants.
In recent weeks, aspirants in some leading political parties have decried attempts by some party leaders to impose some aspirants instead of allowing all of them to slug it out at the ballots with great ideas and convincing agenda.
The complaints about imposition of candidates are widespread, including in Lagos where 11 governorship aspirants have written to the leadership of their party in Abuja asking for a postponement of the governorship primary election taking place today, 4 December.
Imposing candidates on the people or the party undermines democratic principles and makes politicians to be accountable to their godfathers rather than the electorate.
The danger in this skewed arrangement is that an anointed candidate would not work hard or listen to the people because they did not put him in position of leadership. He would simply do the bidding of the godfather to succeed in politics.
Endorsements and impositions should not be the tickets that politicians need. Rather, their visions and antecedents should speak for them.
We believe that imposition is not the way to go if the political parties must become truly democratic. It is our opinion that a level playing field should be created for all the aspirants to prevent an unnecessary backlash or violence by supporters of aspirants schemed out of the power game. Our democracy can only blossom if all the stakeholders play the game by the rule as it is done in other climes.