The Incredulity Of Automatic Tickets For Politicians

Clearly there is no gainsaying that we are in an electioneering period, even though the general elections are just a year from now. Of course, the party primaries will most likely be held this year.

Some weeks back it was rumoured that All Progressives Congress (APC) was luring incumbent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers to decamp with the promise that they will get automatic tickets with or without primary. In other words, the lawmakers were guaranteed that they will get the party tickets for their respective seats without fear of opposition.

This past week, it appears as though it is a tit for tat when again our sources stated that PDP was trying to do the same thing, not just to get new members, but also to get their previous members that decamped to APC to return back to the fold and prevent other members from decamping to APC.

We will assume for purposes of this diatribe that it is true. Additionally, we will not address the apparent touchy issue of whether outgoing governors have been promised that they can choose and anoint their successors, and even receive their own tickets for the juicy senatorial seats if they remain loyal to their party (or jump ship when the opposition 'calleth'). That will be for another day when we discuss 'Outgoing governors and the Ubiquitous Desire for the Senate Seat.'

For all intent and purposes, the Nigerian brand of democracy is young. However, after almost fifteen (15) years of the return to democracy, many Nigerians are worried that we may be engaged in 'forward regression.' Without arguing about whether we are practicing true federalism or not, the point remains that the average person does not have anything to show for the decade and half of civilian rule. The so-called elusive 'dividends of democracy' has not trickled down to the masses. When the average village woman treks down to the polling unit and stands in line under the scorching sun to exercise her right of suffrage, wants to believe that she has been given credible choices.





2014-03-31 223155
Disclaimer: "The views expressed on this site are those of the contributors or columnists, and do not necessarily reflect TheNigerianVoice’s position. TheNigerianVoice will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here."

Articles by Prof. Alex O. Atawa Akpodiete, Esq.