Atiku
As
2019 presidential election gets closer, a former Vice President, has
fired some shots at his own party, the ruling All Progressives Congress
(APC). While speaking at the 2nd Inter Party Advisory Council of Nigeria
(IPAC) Annual Conference 2017 on Internal Party Democracy, former Vice
President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, chided the All Progressives Congress
(APC) over failure to organise statutory meetings for the organs of the
party, arguing that lack of internal democracy has made APC and other
parties bullying and undemocratic.
According to The Sun, the influential politician specifically threw
a jab at the APC Deputy National Chairman (North), Shaibu Lawal, who
represented the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun
reminding him that he was referring to the governing party.
“The issue of internal democracy in our political parties has
been with us for a long time, indeed since the restoration of civilian
rule in 1999. In long-established democracies those statements would
seem trite. But I recognise that our democracy is young, and our parties
are also rather young.
“As a result, they are still wrestling with issues of party
building, party structures, internal democracy and the nature of the
relationship between parties and members, parties and legislatures and
parties and government as well as among parties themselves.
“We had a very long period of authoritarian rule in Nigeria,
ending in 1999. The legacy of that period is still with us as can be
seen in our various governance institutions. Indeed even elements of
that authoritarian past still wield power and influence in our country
as we try to transition from that legacy.
“Also the structure of our economy is such that the state
remains the most important source of economic opportunity. This
heightens the struggle for state power and helps to shape the
relationship between parties and members, among parties and among the
various arms of government.
“It is, therefore, a huge challenge to democratize governance
and the political parties in our country. But, as the theme of this
conference makes clear, internal democracy in our political parties is
very important for the parties, their members and for the country.
“The absence of internal democracy in our parties is a major
reason our democracy remains fragile and why the quality of leadership
that we produce has not matched our expectations and the challenges
facing us as a nation. It is also one of the reasons it has been very
difficult to hold leaders to account. Internal party democracy is
important enough that it was one of the areas addressed by the Electoral
Reform Committee headed by Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais many years ago.
“But we know that power wielders hardly voluntarily enlarge the
democratic space. That is why I’ve often opined that internal party
democracy will only come with genuine electoral reforms in the country.
Such reforms, broadly along the Justice Uwais Committee Recommendations,
which will further strengthen the independence of INEC and ensure that
votes count, will encourage parties to field popular candidates in
elections.
“And that in turn will encourage parties to allow internal
democracy so members have the freedom to choose and express their
opinions. Thus the role of godfathers and executive intrusion in the
affairs of parties and elections will be diminished.
“In my view, there is a close relationship between democracy
within political parties and democracy within the nation. Put simply
you cannot give what you don’t have. You cannot build democracy on a
substructure of dictatorship and intolerance. A political party that
constricts the freedom of its members cannot really offer freedom to the
citizens of the nation. Democracy is not just an idea; is a cultural
practice.
“For a number of years now we have had political parties, even
governing ones, which hardly hold meetings of their important organs,
including those meant for the democratic selection of their leadership,
or even constitute institutions prescribed in their Constitution.
“In the absence of those meetings and elections, their existing
leadership, often under the direction of the Executive at the state or
federal level, fill the void. That’s not party building but party
bullying. And it’s certainly not a way to democratise parties and
aggregate their members’ opinions, interests and aspirations.
“This means that efforts to deepen Nigeria’s democracy must
include efforts at democratising our political parties. The
institutionalisation of democracy in our internal party processes will
help us deepen democracy in Nigeria. Leaders are more likely to tolerate
opposition from citizens and other parties if they tolerate it within
their own party.
“The lack of internal democracy in political parties is one of
the reasons for the fraught relationships among parties and their
elected representatives and the legislature and the executive.
The
loyalty of some in the legislature and executive lies not with the party
but with a godfather who sponsored them, and the godfather may even be
in a rival political party. Such anomalies will reduce if internal
democracy flourishes in our political parties, and by extension the
wider society.
“The selection of leaders in a democracy is a serious business
because so many other things ride on it. Whenever we get it wrong the
nation or a part thereof suffers. We must strive to get it right most of
the time. And it is the voters who should freely make that
determination. I therefore thank the IPAC for organising this conference
and for inviting me to chair it,” he noted.
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