Edo 2020: More worries over APC primary

Following Friday’s disqualification of Governor Godwill Obaseki by All Progressives Congress’ screening committee, ‘DARE ODUFOWOKAN, Assistant Editor, reports that there is deep apprehension amongst members and stakeholders as the ruling party prepares for this month’s governorship primaries in Edo State amidst the unresolved face-off between the governor and Adams Oshiomhole, the APC National Chairman

Following Friday’s disqualification of Edo State’s Governor Godwin Obaseki from contesting in All Progressives Congress’ governorship primaries ahead of the 2020 election, the confusion and the intrigues that have surrounded the party’s efforts to select its candidate have become even more complex.

A screening panel constituted by the party to clear contenders for the party’s ticket hinged its action on allegations that the governor’s academic certificate has become a subject of controversy.

The complexity is even more because of Obaseki’s reaction on Friday. Describing the disqualification as “Oshiomhole’s rascality,” he said in a statement by Mr. Crusoe Osagie, his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, that he will not appeal the disqualification.

As he puts it: “We have watched the mockery of democratic process, which Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is administering and superintending over in our great party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. “It has been an unfortunate, disheartening and dreadful spectacle.”

“We had initially asserted that going by the open display and enthronement of illegality by one man in the party that comprises several organs and eminent personalities, there is no way that Governor Godwin Obaseki would get a fair assessment in the run-up to the nomination of candidates to fly the flag of the party in the forthcoming Edo gubernatorial election. “It is unfortunate that this open show of shame, illegality and travesty of justice is the brand of democracy which Comrade Oshiomhole has reduced the APC into. The situation is quite saddening because this is a party supposedly reputed for change, equity and social justice. “We have, therefore, decided that it would be efforts in futility to appeal whatever the unjust outcome of the evaluation and screening process of the APC will be, especially when Comrade Oshiomhole has declared that he is the Supreme Court and ultimate determiner of the fate and future of our great party. “We wish Oshiomhole luck in his maladministration of the party and trust that the Almighty will help our country to find the path to true liberty, freedom and justice. “We call on all party members and the teeming supporters of Governor Obaseki to remain calm and await further directives.”

Following the absence of a truce in the hostilities between the camps loyal to the governor and the National Chairman respectively, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and fresh rumblings from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over alleged plans to force a candidate on the party at the primaries, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, during the week, expressed concerns over the security signal in the state ahead of the party primaries and September 19, 2020 governorship election, during a virtual consultative meeting with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

APC chose direct primaries mode to select its candidate for the Edo election, the other 14 parties have endorsed the indirect primaries. They are the African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Democratic Party (ADP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Allied People’s Movement (APM), Action People’s Party (APP), Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). The rest are the National Rescue Movement (NRM), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressive Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

Yakubu appealed to the security chiefs and other stakeholders to help the commission achieve peaceful party primaries, fearing that the shadow elections may be the most acrimonious part of electoral process in Edo State. According to him, there are enough indications already for INEC and other stakeholders to be worried about likely breach of peace and orderliness during the primary elections of some of the political parties participating in the September governorship election in the state.

Sources at the commission told The Nation that current happenings within the ruling APC top INEC’s reasons to worry. It was gathered that the electoral body, determined to conduct a credible election in September, desires that the party primaries should equally be hitch free.

It was reliably gathered that INEC may, before the commencement of the party primary elections, approach the judiciary and or the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to seek protection from some possible roadblocks perceived to have been “mounted on the road to a peaceful and credible election by some actions and inactions of certain gladiators in their fierce struggle for their various party tickets.” This, The Nation learnt, may not be unconnected with the enactment of certain laws in the state prohibiting a particular mode of primary election.

Similarly, sources at the national secretariat of the ruling party informed of plans by the leadership of the party to “protect INEC and the state chapter of the APC against certain draconian laws capable of rubbishing the nation’s democratic gains since 1999.” According to a national official of the party who claimed anonymity, “the party will not bow to the dictates of one man, no matter how powerful such an individual is. Since President Muhammadu Buhari has assured us all that he will stand with democracy against dictatorship, we are prepared to challenge such.”

But the camp of Obaseki, before his disqualification, perceiving all the above moves as targeted at the new gazettes signed by the governor obviously to checkmate the conduct of direct primaries in the state while making indirect primaries possible, also said their man is still the governor of the state and therefore cannot be brushed aside in matters that concern security and orderliness irrespective of the intentions of INEC and Oshiomhole’s NWC ahead of the elections in the state.

And to further heighten the tension within the party, and by extension, the state ahead of the June 22nd shadow poll, Obaseki, speaking on Thursday, said he does not feel the processes towards the primary election of his party will be free and credible.

The governor expressed fear that he may not get justice from the committee set up by the APC to vet aspirants seeking to get the party’s ticket ahead of the governorship election. The governor went through the process hours after Crusoe Osagie said the committee delayed him for hours. Speaking to journalists after the exercise, Obaseki said he is not sure of getting justice because Adams Oshiomhole, APC National Chairman, has refused to recuse himself from the process.

“Like I said, as a party man, I had to go through the screening process but I do not believe that I will get justice because Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is an interested party in the Edo process. One of the questions asked was why did I issue a gazette that will prevent the party from performing direct elections in Edo? That did I not see it as an anti-party activity, the governor asked.”

INEC, the gazette and the addresses

Obviously embattled, but unwilling to allow Oshiomhole have his way with the mode of primary election in the state, Obaseki hurriedly signed a new gazette aimed at stopping the proposed direct primary election by his party, the APC, in the state. Most observers of the politics of the state agree that the gazette is the governor’s counter move against the National Chairman’s letter to INEC that direct mode of primary election will be adopted to nominate the gubernatorial candidate of the party in Edo State. The National Chairman is empowered by the party’s constitution to do so.

Defending its decision to go with APC’s NWC choice of primary election in the state, Prof. Yakubu had, during the week, said, “INEC’s policy on conducting elections under the current global pandemic is anchored on the guidelines issued by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) based on the advisory by health authorities. The guidelines provide for measures to protect the electoral process and the people involved, ranging from the election officials, observers, the media and above all, the voters.

Hinting further on the commission’s resolve to go ahead and conduct the elections in spite of the governor’s protests, the INEC chief added that, “doing so will also increase public confidence and consequently enhance the credibility of the electoral process. To do so effectively, there is need to review the security architecture in the light of the global pandemic and come up with clear guidelines as well as supplementary code of conduct for security personnel on election duty,” the statement read.

Who blinks first?

Meanwhile, Obaseki’s administration is insisting that all political parties in the state must obey the regulations spelt out in the controversial gazette in the conduct of their primary elections in the state. The Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, said this while receiving his Bayelsa State counterpart, Lawrence Ehwujakpo, who is in the state for the PDP ward congresses. He said other parties must emulate the PDP by conducting indirect primary elections in line with the new guidelines by the state government as stated in the gazette.

“We got a letter from your party, the PDP, requesting to make use of the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium for its primary election. Governor Godwin Obaseki approved the request because the party obeyed the rules and regulations set by the Edo State Government. I therefore use this opportunity to tell other political parties to obey the gazette in the state, which is now a law. Just as you have obeyed, we are asking and calling on other political parties to obey the law.

“Any political party that disobeys the law will not hold its primary election in the state as the gazette must be respected. The life of Edo people is more important than the political ambition of any politician or wishes of political parties. We need to be alive to play politics; we need to live to vote and be voted for in the election. The rules to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the gazette must be strictly followed to keep Edo people safe at this period,” he said.

But in spite of Obaseki’s gazette and Philips’ warning, INEC on Wednesday approved the direct primary mode for the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary for the Edo State governorship election, scheduled for 19th September 2020.

“INEC does not deal with state branches of political parties in matters relating to or connected with the conduct of party primaries. Section 85(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) makes it mandatory for political parties intending to nominate candidates for elective offices to give the commission 21 days’ notice of its intention to conduct party primaries. In our rules and regulations, the letter to this effect is signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary of political parties indicating the date, time and venue for the conduct of party primaries and the mode of the primaries.

“The mode of primaries to be adopted by political parties is a function of their constitution, the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and the regulations and guidelines issued by INEC. So, we don’t have business with state branches of political parties because our rules, regulations and laws say we should relate with the national chairman and the national secretary in terms of fixing party primaries, whether direct or indirect,” Okoye had said.

But the Edo Governor, speaking through his media aide, Crusoe Osagie, had said “right now, there is a restraining order on APC, Oshiomhole and all the other agencies from carrying out any activity relating to the primary in the state pending the determination of the substantive suit before the Court. There is also the new gazette which prevents anybody to carry out activities that are similar to direct primary election in the state. That is an order on ground preventing people from gathering in all the local governments and 192 wards of the state for the purpose of direct primary. Other parties have complied and it is expected that the APC should comply too.”

However, the Chairman of the APC in the state, David Imuse, said the state chapter of the party will abide by the INEC’s decision because it is in tandem with what the national leadership of the pay wants. He expressed the readiness of APC members across the state to troop out and vote for their preferred gubernatorial candidate on June 22nd. “It is the party that can take a decision on this matter. It is the party that has decided on direct primary election and that nobody can change,” he said.

Now that the panel has finally disqualified Obaseki and the governor said he would not appeal the decision but will later direct his supporters on the next line of action, it seems certain that the Edo State APC’s crisis is yet to end. How the matter will be resolved eventually remains to be seen.