Donald Duke and The Independent Candidacy
Joe Edet argues for a review of the electoral law to create room for independent candidacy
Donald Duke really needs no introduction. He is immensely popular, perhaps, notorious in his enviable accomplishments while as Governor of Cross River State. To his credit and that of his successors, they have successfully turned a hitherto moribund civil service state to a five star Nigerian number one destination of choice. His foremost accomplishments include the TINAPA business and leisure resorts touted by bookmakers and industry experts as the Dubai of Africa; the world famous Carnival Calabar and the Calabar Festival which his two successors have taken beyond an enviable imagination, drawing thousands of revellers yearly to the city of Calabar; The Obudu International Mountain Race introduced by Duke and sustained by Imoke was basically to draw world attention to Nigeria’s number one Wonder, the Obudu Mountain Resort, which is the icing on Duke’s already well-baked cake of achievements.
The Duke wonderment has been given greater impetus by his successors who did not abandon his dream but have added colours and institutionalised the vision. Take the Carnival introduced by duke, Imoke keyed in by introducing the children and cultural carnival and the Carnival Calabar Queen beauty pageant. The incumbent, the very supersonic digital Governor Ben Ayade, has not only introduced the bikers carnival and the Green Carnival but has equally birthed the Miss Green Africa pageant in promotion of the eco-tourism potential of the state.
This isn’t really about what Duke has achieved in the past but more for what he hasn’t in the present and what he should in the nearest future. To achieve this, Duke has to move away from the past and focus on the future. His monumental achievements in Cross River are well documented and can’t be wished away no matter what. It’s more than a decade Duke left government house Calabar, yet the Duke we kept hearing of is the Duke of Calabar. Indeed, with such a likable persona and enviable accomplishments, we should be talking about the Duke of Nigeria.
It was therefore refreshing to read that he was taking another shot at the Presidency and suggested the review of the electoral law to allow for independent candidacy. He must have been challenged by the Emmanuel Macron revolution in France where he ran as an independent candidate of a political organisation En Marche which he set up just a year ago. It’s heart-warming to hear that Duke is willing to free himself from the past.
No doubt, the Nigerian Constitution has no place for independent candidacy, thus the call for the amendment of our laws to accommodate it is apposite. The constitution stipulates that a person shall only be qualified for election if he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by a political party.(sections 65(2)(b);106(d);131(c);177(c) 1999 CFRN as amended).
Duke won’t be the first to make this call. In 2007, the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua set up the Electoral Reform Commission headed by the very highly revered Justice Muhammed Uwais, former Chief justice of Nigeria. The panel in its reports which was conversationally christened the ‘Uwais Report’ came up with the recommendation to allow independent candidates in future elections in Nigeria. Before then, the National Political Reform Conference inaugurated by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005 had made a similar proposal in its report.
The concept of independent candidacy enhances and promotes popular participation in the electoral process and guarantees freedom of choice. It is equally a universal democratic identity recognised and practiced by major democracies in the world. The USA had since adopted it with popular candidates like George Wallace, Ross Perot and even incumbent Donald Trump running as independent candidates at a time. President George Washington ran as an independent candidate while Senator Bernie Sanders won his Senatorial seat as an independent. In Russia, it has become a norm that all their Presidents are independent. The thinking is that the Presidency is too sensitive to be partisan. Former President Dimitry Medvedev refused overtures to join the United Russia Party while incumbent Vladimir Putin who is the head of the party is just a nominal head, as he isn’t even a member. Countries like Australia, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Malaysia, Poland and Philippines, all practised independent candidacy. In fact, in Hong Kong more than half of her legislative council is made up of independents while the United Kingdom had experimented on it.
The concept isn’t completely strange to Nigeria. Nigeria in the first republic had experimented on this system but with not very impressive results. Time has come for it to be reintroduced because of the impunity of political parties whose nomination processes has become an avenue to reward incompetence. Indeed it will free aspirants from the shackles of oppression and servitude placed on them by political parties and leaders who inflict undue hardship and equally deny candidates who win primaries the tickets to fly their party’s flags. It will to a large extend check or curtail the impunity by political parties and party leaders.
But can Duke re-enact the Macron miracle sweeping across France in Nigeria? To start with the ages of Duke and Macron are like two decades apart. The hitherto young Duke, restless, naive, audacious and courageous has graduated to a statesman and is of course more matured. He is at the ripe age, experienced, has clout, candour and pedigree of a modern Nigerian presidential hopeful. Duke represents a crop of Nigerians bent on using and entrenching merit and merit alone as the criteria for political attainment. He represents our sanity and the stronger need and desire for our oneness. A Duke presidency will be an answer to the endless agitations and there are lots of other Dukes whose title to fame isn’t tribe, language or religion. It’s time for these Nigerians to step forward and lead us to Elysium. However, to achieve this, he still needs to team up with his friends, associates, colleagues and contemporaries to help drive the process. Indeed, he needs to come back home to begin from where he stopped even as an independent candidate. People like Duke cannot be caged, enveloped or derailed by political parties and their ideologies. Independent candidacy is the way forward.