APC and the burden of automatic ticket
Will the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) give an automatic ticket to President Muhammadu Buhari to run for the office again on its platform in 2019? This question seems to have been tacitly answered by the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, in an interview, with select journalists last Monday in Abuja on the midterm scorecard of the administration.
“The thinking that ‘will he be president in 2019’ is really not doing any good, his need today is good health. When we get to 2019, it is for him to decide if he wants to run or if he doesn’t want to run and to consult the party on his decision….
“If he wants to run good and if he doesn’t want to run, the country isn’t bereft, the party isn’t bereft of capable hands,” said OdigieOyegun who added that the forthcoming mid-term convention of the party would be delayed for the president because of its significance. He also said that the ill-health of Buhari would not affect the APC’s bid to retain power in 2019.
Before the party’s national chairman’s current innuendo on automatic ticket, Ahmad Sani Yarima, the former governor of Zamfara State and now a senator representing Zamfara West, during an interactive session with some select journalists in Abuja in 2015, said there is no vacancy in Aso Rock when asked if he would likely revive his presidential ambition in 2019.
“I don’t think there is any vacancy. As far as I am concerned, Buhari must go for a second term. The man is incorruptible. You cannot go to the Presidency and say you want to see him to organise something that you can make dollars out of it. This issue of corruption, insecurity all we need is to support him not only for four years.
“He needs, at least, one year to settle down, two years to govern and the remaining one year is going to be for politicking. So, my personal position is that I am a strong supporter of Buhari. As far as I am concerned, he must run again if he is alive and well,” said Yarima.
Last Monday, the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) also said that President Buhari would seek a second term in 2019.
The organisation said two years of the APC-led government had impacted more positively on Nigerians than the 16 years of the PDP.
The organisation, which brought about 14 Imams and six pastors together, offered prayers for Buhari’s quick recovery and expressed optimism that the remaining two yearsý in the first phase of the administration would be better.
Addressing newsmen at the BCO headquarters in Abuja, the Acting National ýCo-ordinator of the organisation, Alhaji Danladi Pasali, said Buhari had within the last two years laid the foundation for good governance in Nigeria. He explained that if Buhari did not contestý in 2019, disgruntled forces would take over and destroy the country.
In the same vein, the National Coordinator of the Buhari Vanguard, Alhaji Musa Aliyu, said last Wednesday that President Buhari would contest the 2019 presidential election to complete the good work he is doing.
Aliyu said, in a statement issued in Abuja, that just like what happened previously when Buhari was asked by people of goodwill to contest for the presidency, millions of wellwishers would encourage him to go for a second term. Issues on automatic tickets Buhari, Daily Trust on Sunday learnt, remained the only personality stopping the ruling APC presidential hopefuls, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and Senate President Bukola Saraki among others from embarking on aggressive surreptitious campaigns ahead of 2019 as they were ready to bury their ambitions for him. So, the Odigie-Oyegun statement seemed to have buttressed this point.
But the fear is the consequence of an outright decision to give automatic ticket to either President or governors in a democratic setting without regard to performance, considering the fact that the decision of the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to give automatic tickets to former President Goodluck Jonathan, some governors and members of National Assembly led to the party’s defeat during the 2015 general elections because some aspirants were denied the right to contest the positions at the primaries.
So, this kind of dissent cannot be totally ruled out in the APC as the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had once challenged such move under the PDP administration.
Currently, the APC has 15 governors who are serving their first tenure in office, and who are likely to demand automatic tickets as well from the party leadership should they give it to President Buhari.
But should the APC consider automatic tickets at all? Mixed reaction over automatic tickets The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mr Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), in an interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, berated any move to give the right of first refusal to Mr President or any other aspirants at various levels of governance.
When told about the APC national chairman’s move to give automatic ticket to the president, Ibrahim said, “the call is rather not in the spirit of the current administration that is trying to bring some sanity to the polity by ensuring that there is a free and fair election and equal opportunities for people. If we say that we are in a democracy, we should be able to accept democratic tenets.
“When you conclude that there is no vacancy like the PDP has done in the past, it means that we have not changed from the way things were done in the past. Why can’t you allow the democratic process to take its course?
“If the members of the APC resolved and decided in an open and transparent manner that they want the current leadership either at state or national level, whether it is National Assembly, State assemblies, president or the governors, if they so desired that this is how it should be through primary election that is transparent and participatory, free of manipulation, that will be more decent and honest than to make that kind of blanket statement that there is no vacancy.
“It shows that we have not made any departure from what the PDP used to do and what the current leadership of the APC is also advocating.”
Asked to comment on how his feeing when he initially heard the information that the APC was treading the same route that led to the PDP failure, the CISLAC executive director said, “I just felt that we had not learnt our lessons as a nation. The politicians don’t want to allow the democratic process to evolve. It is also clear that the change the APC is talking about is not really deep into their heart.
“If they would now block and stop other people from participating in the election. Because once you make this kind of statement, it is very clear that nothing is going to really happen. You have already closed the opportunity for other people because they will be afraid of expressing any interest since the party has already decided how it should be. But this is not really a democracy. There should be opportunity for everyone that is qualified and so desired to participate in the process to be allowed to do that.
“What this statement shows clearly is that even at state level, the governors will do the same thing whether they perform or not. The people should not have a choice whether members of State assemblies of National Assembly perform or not. That is the implication of what they have done now.”
But a chieftain of the APC, Mr Osita Okechukwu, supported Odigie-Oyegun’s hidden pledge of automatic ticket to President Buhari.
Okechukwu said the move would assist the president to consolidate his achievements.
He said, “I support Mr Chairman 100 per cent. Continuation means that Mr President will be in a position to consolidate his silent social revolution he is embarking on - silent revolution to plug all leakages to fight corruption, to motivate and re-modernise security agencies so that there will be security in the land. And some other issues like the development of critical infrastructure such as standard rail-line across the country, rehabilitation of dilapidated federal road networks, and the ease of doing business in Nigeria.”
But when told that similar step led to the loss of the PDP in 2015, he said “The uniqueness or political capital of Mr President is his uncommon integrity quotient. His expertise is on the fact that he places public interests above personal interest unlike others. “So, we cannot lose sight on that quality which is his political capital. That is why we have been supporting him since 2002. We are praying that God keeps him alive so that he can consolidate the solid foundation he is laying for the country.”
Asked whether he would support any move to extend similar gesture of automatic tickets for governors and National Assembly members, Mr Okechukwu said, “Look at it this way, we cannot do a holistic endorsement. We are talking about the presidency because he is the pivot of the development of the country. The people of Kaduna State should decide how best to vote for Malam Nasir El-Rufai. We know he is also embarking on critical infrastructure. The same thing applies to most of the governors. But we cannot sit down in a cocktail and do a holistic endorsement.
“We are emphasizing that of Mr President because of his integrity quotient. We cannot decide for Imo State people what to do with Governor Rochas Okorocha. We cannot do a holistic endorsement. Some of them are even on their second term to complete eight years. We cannot group them with Mr President who is on first tenure and whose foundation also affects states.
“The federal government of Nigeria has federal roads all over the country. The electricity is run by the federal government. So, if there is an improvement at the centre, then there will be an improvement at the regions and states.”