Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Buhari's Faux Pas

President ​Buhari has asked APC Governors to allow him to single-handedly pick the APC presidential candidate just as the Governors whose tenures are about to end have selected who should contest as APC gubernatorial candidate in their respective state. Supremacy of political parties is well entrenched in Section 65 (2b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria where it is stated that in order to contest for any elected office in Nigeria, one must be a member of a political party which must sponsor one. Further in Section 68 (1g) a carpet crosser to another political party must vacate his/her seat in the national assembly and the same is applicable in the state assemblies under Section 109(1g) to defectors. Viewed from the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria, the party on whose platform anyone is elected is superior to the elected person. The duty of National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC cannot, and should not, be taken over either by the Governors in the states or by the President at the centre.

It was Aisha Buhari, the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari who, in a BBC interview on 14 October 2016, first alerted the whole world that the APC government led by her husband had been hijacked by non-members. ​https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37642282

Nigeria's president warned by First Lady Aisha Buhari Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's wife warns him in a BBC interview that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his government. www.bbc.com

Following Aisha's BBC interview, Jaafar Jaafar, on 17 October 2016, penned an opinion in the Premium Times of Nigeria titled : The Unaired Part of Mrs. Buhari's Interview, in which he elaborated on Aisha's disclosure about the government of unelected in Nigeria. Jaafar wrote, "The Buhari I knew before the last presidential election was not the obtuse person we have today as president. The Buhari I promoted during the campaign had no nepotistic, despotic or teleguided tendencies. The Buhari I voted for was not this pliable. Forgive me if my knowledge of him is superficial." Supporting Aisha Buhari's claim that the APC government had been hijacked by a clique of non-members, Jaafar wrote, "This cabal has suffocated a mega political party that Nigeria from all regions laboured and united to build. From the appointment of ministers to heads of agencies there are either portfolio misplacements or the elevation of disturbing cronyism and incompetence by this cabal, which started from the outset of the present administration." Jaafar named people in President Buhari's government and agencies that confirmed his government as a continuation of Goodluck Jonathan's government rather than the change slogan with which Buhari and APC campaigned to win Presidential and National Assembly elections in 2015. After the election the APC manifesto was discarded and people behind the manifesto were betrayed by Buhari. Thus, Buhari allowed history to repeat itself.

Buhari was a military General who ruled Nigeria between January 1, 1984 and 27 August 1985 but he was overthrown by the Babangida military clique. Announcing the overthrow of General Muhammadu Buhari on Radio Nigeria, Brigadier Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro accused Buhari, among other things, that "... a few people have arrogated to themselves the right to make decisions for the larger part of the ruling body. Furthermore, the initial objectives and programmes of action which were meant to have been implemented since ascension to power by the Buhari Administration in January 1984 have been betrayed and discarded. ...//... The concept of collective leadership has been substituted by stubborn and ill-advised unilateral actions, thereby destroying the principles upon which government came to power. Any effort made to advise the leadership, met with stubborn resistance and was viewed as a challenge to authority or disloyalty." Buhari's style of governance before he was overthrown as the military head of state in 1985, has been re-established as the standard practice in his APC led federal government since 2015. If we are to go by the performances of the people Buhari appointed/selected into ministries and agencies up till now and the obvious socio-economic and industrial degeneration in Nigeria, President Buhari is not qualified to single-handedly select the APC Presidential candidate in 2022 election. Besides, neither the constitution nor the electoral laws of Nigeria permit him to select his party's presidential candidate.

S. Kadiri

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinibrahim891@gmail.com>
Sent: 03 June 2022 09:57
To: 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Buhari's Faux Pas

 

Imposition of Successor: President Buhari's Faux Pas

 

Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy Column, Daily Trust, 3^rd June 2022

 

In his address to the 11^th meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 20^th April 2022, President Buhari warned the party leadership at the national and state levels not to impose unpopular candidates as the 2023 election approaches. He called on them to always follow due process in all the party processes as well as to develop robust mechanisms against corruption:

 "I call on all party members to abide by all extant laws, rules, and regulations and to leaders of our party to avoid the imposition of candidates that cannot win popular elections. This dictatorial behaviour cost us many strategic seats in the past leading to some of our strong members, unfortunately, opting to go elsewhere because of the unfairly oppressive behaviour of party leaders at the state level."

The President therefore came out very clearly on the side of transparency and strict adherence to internal democratic processes within the party.

To the great surprise of Nigerians, President Buhari did a U-turn on Tuesday 31^st May telling the 22 APC governors that they had successfully imposed the candidates they wanted in their states so they should give him the same privilege of allowing him to hand pick his successor:

 

"In keeping with the established internal policies of the Party and as we approach the Convention in a few days, therefore, I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the Governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor."

Of course, the President cannot choose his successor because the mandate has been given to Nigerian citizens by the Constitution, who alone can elect the next president. Maybe what he meant is that he alone should decide who will emerge as the APC presidential candidate. Here again, there is a problem. The Electoral Act gives power to party members to elect their preferred candidate.

 

For me, what is disturbing is that the President is saying that since the governors imposed their own candidates, he too would want to impose his candidate on the party. He is therefore giving up the moral high ground he occupied and taking the option of, to use his words, of engaging in dictatorial behaviour leading to the imposition of an unpopular candidate on the party. To be clear, any candidate imposed by an individual is by definition unpopular.

 

In his response to this development, Salihu Lukman, the National Vice-Chairman (North-west) of the APC has cautioned the President against taking this path, correctly pointing out that the risk is the reputation of the President himself. He added that:

"The big fear is that combining both legal and moral authority, being our President, if you are to nominate your successor to what extent can other party leaders influence your decision? If party leaders are unable to influence your decision with respect to the choice of successor, what will be the guarantee that your choice can aggregate the expectations of Nigerians?

The damage being done by President Buhari's announcement is massive. Party leaders and stakeholders have been meeting almost continuously since his address to the Governors. They are trying to map out strategies either in support of or against the president's announcement that he wants to impose a candidate. The most direct stakeholders are the APC presidential aspirants who paid a hundred million naira each for the right to contest. Some of them have been very clear that they will not accept the idea of a consensus candidate, insisting that competitive primaries must take place. It is important to point out that the Electoral Act stipulates that consensus candidates can only be considered in conditions where all of the aspirants make a written declaration that they are willingly stepping down for a consensus candidate. This option is closed in the APC as it stands today. Any imposition of a candidate would lead to a major crisis that could affect the chances of the party in the elections.  

 

Another serious concern is that the President is said to have set up a small committee to help him determine who his successor would be but the membership of the said committee has not been announced. Many are worried that the committee might very well be the small group of friends and relations around the President. If this is the plan, then it would create a situation in which non-APC stakeholders determine for the party who their flag bearer would be. What is the purpose of the party National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Working Committee (NWC) if they are excluded from participation in the decision-making process of their own party? It is not surprising that allegations and protests have already emerged that the party chairman is working in concert with people outside the party leadership while marginalizing NEC and NWC.

 

The core crisis emerging within the party has been their inability to resolve the issue of zoning and power rotation. It was widely expected that after eight-years of President Buhari in power, the party would concede power to its leaders from the South. Strong opposition from within the party have resisted this arguing the party has no rotation principle in its Constitution. This might be true but the question posed is one of fairness and balance. There will be collateral damage is rotation does not occur even if it is not yet clear how deep the damage will be. The game changer might very well be the imposition of a Northern candidate by a Northern President that could push southern stakeholders into open revolt. The other question would be the fate of the Vice President, one of the southern candidates. If he is the chosen one, other candidates from the South could revolt and if he is not chosen, there would be uncomfortable questions about the lack of regard for his loyalty and hard work.

 

All these banana peels can be avoided by the President withdrawing his threat to impose a presidential candidate for the APC. Party primaries were invented to resolve leadership selection through the use of the democratic method. Nigerian democracy advocates have been very concerned about disregard for intra-party democracy and free and fair elections in the primaries held so far. President Buhari should heed the advice from people of goodwill and democratic disposition that he should not join the dictators who disregard due process and free and fair elections. His imposition of a candidate on the ruling party would definitely be a faux pas he can avoid.

  

 

 

 

 

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

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