According to a story that surfaced last week, President Bola Tinubu has given 31 governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress, or APC, the authority to choose the fate of candidates in their states before to the general election in 2027.
According to Tinubu, this was required to maintain the party’s cohesiveness and unity before the election the following year.
The development came after Tinubu met with governors behind closed doors while using the ruling APC platform.According to the DAILY POST, following the meeting with the president, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), and Mohammed Bago, the governor of Niger State, spoke to reporters. They stated that the discussions centered on ways to create a more powerful and unified party following the party primaries.
According to the governors, Tinubu reiterated his support for the APC’s decision to permit states to hold direct or consensus primaries in accordance with the Electoral Act.We came to express our gratitude to the president for his generosity and support of our party, the APC, and the governors.
AbdulRazak stated, “He gave us a matching order on what to do for him.”
The president “ceded his executive power to the governors to go ahead and conduct primaries based on the Electoral Act, either through consensus or direct primaries,” the governor continued.At their meeting with the president at the Villa, the National Assembly begged for automatic tickets for their colleagues.
Tinubu, however, maintained that each state’s governor has sway over candidates.
According to the DAILY POST, the trend is now making the APC uneasy, with some federal lawmakers—particularly those who are not well-liked by their governors—becoming increasingly anxious.
There is still time to address any worries about the future of lawmakers, according to a South-East House of Representatives member who talked to DAILY POST in private.The politician claims that internal party procedures still allow for the resolution of complaints prior to the conclusion of the primaries. He emphasized that a more accurate judgment can only be made after the primary process is over, adding that it would be premature to claim that MPs have been marginalized or treated unfairly.He claimed that the party had unveiled an updated primary schedule. Indeed, a number of National Assembly proceedings were impacted by the automatic ticket issue. We believed that political security would follow naturally from collaboration with the administration. We still have time to resolve these concerns, even though the reality on the ground appears to be different and some people are starting to doubt those presumptions.We still have time to resolve these concerns, even though the reality on the ground appears to be different and some people are starting to doubt those presumptions. “Until the primaries are over, I can’t say that we have been ignored or treated unfairly.” Lawmakers living in regret: According to a recent disclosure by Sumner Sambo, Political Editor of Arise News, several federal lawmakers are regretting their political choices made in advance of the elections. Instead of taking part in party primary, speak on The Morning Show on Arise with automatic tickets. He claims that President Bola Tinubu’s perceived political commitments have affected the situation, with some MPs thinking that by endorsing government programs, they would win party nominations.He pointed out that some of the impacted lawmakers have acknowledged in private that if they had known automatic tickets would not be assured, they would not have deserted.This is the kind of politics that we are witnessing, including the government, where people are fighting for automatic tickets instead of going to face their party members through direct primaries to get tickets, according to Sambo. The lawmakers had supported executive proposals in the National Assembly with the expectation of receiving automatic tickets, but they are now facing a differentPresident Tinubu has a lot of IOUs with politicians because everyone is depending on him, but he is starting to realize that he cannot succeed on his own because the governors’ forces will undermine him.The federal parliamentarians who relied on President Tinubu to provide them automatic tickets have suddenly realized that their efforts over the last three years have been in naught until they serve the Nigerian people.
The idea was that since President Tinubu was going to give them an automatic ticket, they would promote every item he brought to the National Assembly.
They are all living with remorse if you look at what has transpired.
“Many of them I’ve been talking to tell me that they wouldn’t even have defected into the APC because that’s what they were promised if they had known that they weren’t going to get this.”Nduka Odo, a communication specialist at Peaceland University in Enugu, criticized President Tinubu’s order allowing governors to choose APC candidates in an interview with DAILY POST, calling it a danger to democratic ideals.
He claimed that despite the move’s seeming orderliness, it raises questions about how the electorate’s will is being undermined during the candidate selection process.
Odo questioned if a system in which candidates are chosen by governors can still be considered democratic.
He cautioned that the situation also raises the possibility that the president’s approval could affect governors’ political prospects.
He asserts that any governor who departs from the president’s stance runs the risk of losing the party ticket.
Such a system might further tighten control inside the party hierarchy, he continued.”The directive from Mr. President to political aspirants in his party seems like an orderly procedure, but that clearly shows you how low democracy has fallen in this country,” he said.Where will the people’s will be if he gives the governors control over the fate of candidates?Tell me, is that democracy if he informs candidates that the party will only accept candidates chosen by the governors?The more sinister aspect of it is that he is subtly declaring that he, the president, is ultimately responsible for the governors’ fate.This implies that any governor who disobeys his orders will forfeit their APC ticket.As you are aware, switching parties at this time is forbidden by the new Electoral Act.You will not be able to participate in the election.As you are aware, a change of party is currently prohibited by the new Electoral Act. You lose the election if you lose favor.I have already stated that Tinubu is incredibly cunning in politics, even though this hasn’t been evident in his current administration. This is because he is adept at handling difficult circumstances like these.Before he ran for president, I once said that practically all previous governors would like to have Tinubu’s degree of authority over Lagos.Anybody holding a political office has the ability to jagaban in and out. This authority would have been beneficial if it had created people-focused policies.Now that people have the ability to choose who runs for office, our political institutions will continue to degrade.Hopefully, our political system will see the light one day.
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