By Ehichioya Ezomon
The June 22, 2020 primaries for the ticket of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is emerging as a repeat of the 2016 contest between Governor Godwin Obaseki and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Both were major competitors at the off-season poll of that year, with Obaseki flying the flag of the APC and Ize-Iyamu running on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Then, Obaseki had prevailed, and is gunning for a second term in office, while Ize-Iyamu, who recently returned to the APC, will vie against him for the ticket to the September 19, 2020 election.
The Obaseki camp says his re-election is non-negotiable, as the “sole candidate,” but party chieftains, including National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, have declared the ticket open.
In pursuit of that stand, the camp linked to Oshiomhole has chosen Ize-Iyamu as its “consensus aspirant,” thus giving notice to Obaseki to prepare for the primaries he’s tried to avoid.
Also, the National Working Committee (NWC), which Oshiomhole heads, has picked “direct” primaries for the ticket, deepening the division that’s plagued the APC chapter for over two years.
Obaseki faction’s questioning of the power to order and conduct primaries had played in the background, but it became louder when the NWC picked direct primaries to choose the party candidate.
On an African Independent Television (AIT) political programme, a spokesman for the faction said the APC’s NWC “cannot pick and conduct the primaries,” adding, “there will be indirect primaries, and no direct primaries anywhere in Edo State on June 22.”
This begs the question: Who’s afraid of direct primaries in the Edo chapter of the APC: Governor Obaseki or his numerous aides and foot soldiers? Certainly not the governor!
Because, as at Wednesday, May 27, Obaseki said he’s ready for direct or indirect primaries, and that the only obstacle to his getting the ticket and securing a second term is God.
Featuring on a television programme, the governor said: “I am confident that the way I got into power is the same way I will return. God gave me power. If He wants me to return, I will continue. No man can stop me. Power comes from God.”
If Obaseki is confident of winning the primaries, why should his followers raise hell, and even invoke the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to hold indirect primaries (of selected delegates), and not direct primaries for all card-carrying members of the APC?
Will these proponents also canvass a reduction in the size of the electorate to the September 19 governorship poll that will involve all registered voters and political parties in Edo?
Which of their arguments should the public buy: That the NWC of the APC has no power to pick direct primaries and conduct same, or that COVID-19 may only admit of indirect primaries?
Let’s trash the second argument first. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that, despite the virus, all programmes for the September 19 election in Edo would hold, as per its guidelines to that effect.
That means the primaries, whichever the mode picked by the APC’s NWC – consensus, indirect or direct – would be held within the timeframe announced by the electoral umpire.
Besides, Cross River and Benue States scheduled their local government elections for Saturday, May 30, involving the entire electorate and registered political parties. This knocks off the alibi of COVID-19 for agitating to conduct indirect primaries in Edo.
On picking the method of the primaries, time, place and members to conduct the poll, the APC constitution vests that power on its NWC, coincidentally chaired by Oshiomhole, who some have labelled as an interested party, and should recuse himself from presiding at the choice of the primaries.
How does Oshiomhole’s interest in the crisis vitiate his right to preside at picking the primaries? Who will stand in his stead: A member of the NWC amenable to Obaseki’s camp? Such a scenario isn’t remotely envisaged by the APC constitution.
And the constitution does not give the chapters the locus to choose and conduct primaries for the positions of president, governor and lawmakers that INEC supervises their elections.
In an atmosphere of unity and respect for party supremacy, the APC can allow stakeholders to decide on the mode of primaries they desire, sanction their choice and conduct the primaries, without ceding that responsibility to the state chapters.
That’s one of the routes the Obaseki faction could have taken, to first secure “consensus”. If that failed, proceed to “indirect” primaries. And if that also failed, resign itself to direct primaries.
But the drawn-out skirmishes with the Oshiomhole camp seem to have shut the gate to a compromise; hence pushing the Obaseki side to clamour for indirect primaries it’s threatened would be “the only (method of) election in Edo State” on June 22.
Who will pick members of the panel to conduct the indirect primaries? The same NWC that’s approved direct primaries? Or the Obaseki camp wants a local electoral panel for the primaries?
That would be another Zamfara, whose APC governor in the 2019 election, Abdullaziz Yari, barred the electoral panel from the national headquarters in Abuja from conducting the governorship and legislative assembly primaries in the state.
In violation of the extant laws: Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and the APC constitution, the Zamfara chapter conducted the primaries, and won all positions at the general election.
But the law caught up with the party at the courts, which nullified the results as “wasted votes,” for breaking “its own (APC) rules and as required by law.” The courts awarded the victories to the runner-up, the PDP, that’s comprehensively beaten at the polls.
Is that the Obaseki faction’s plan for the APC? The governor’s aides have warned the Oshiomhole camp against doing anything that would replicate the Zamfara political perdition in Edo. Is the direct primaries the trigger for that eventuality?
Governor Obaseki has said he’s ready for direct or indirect primaries. He should be encouraged to stand by that commitment, having touted his popular supports among Edo people, including the APC members that will vote at the direct primaries.
In my Monday, May 18, 2020 article on “Edo 2020 and APC primary battle,” I held that: “… the stake of every aspirant is to win. Still, winning has more meaning for Obaseki, to demonstrate that he didn’t just ride on Oshiomhole’s back to power in 2016, but he’s capable of being his own man in a treacherous political arena.”
There’re still 21 days to the June 22 primaries, time enough for Governor Obaseki to take a firm position to test his popularity at the direct primaries, facing a familiar opponent in Pastor Ize-Iyamu. The alternative is to conduct indirect primaries, and cause the APC a political earthquake like the Zamfara chapter did in 2019.
- Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.