Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has described the use of consensus by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to determine governorship primaries, especially in Ogun State, as “extortion” and “plutocracy” that subverts democracy.
Falana spoke on Thursday at the 8th Penpushing Annual Lecture held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, themed“Restoring Electoral Integrity: The Path to Good Governance and Public Accountability.”
He argued that transparent party primaries are a prerequisite for electoral integrity.
“Please, let us stop fooling ourselves. If you are going to talk about electoral integrity, you have to start with the primaries,” he said.
He said consensus arrangements deny party members the right to freely choose their candidates, despite the fact that the Electoral Act allows both direct and consensus methods.
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The SAN also expressed concern over what he termed increasing threats to Nigeria’s multi-party system, warning that deregistration of political parties and preventing others from elections could lead to political crisis.
“Political exclusion has historically emboldened undemocratic forces to undermine democratic institutions across Africa,” Falana said.
He also condemned the monetisation of politics, citing the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, who alleged that some governorship aspirants spent between N20 billion and N30 billion during primaries.
“If you are spending between ₦20 billion and ₦30 billion on a primary, how much are you going to spend in the real election?” he asked.
Falana said such huge sums could not have come from legitimate sources, and that the practice promotes corruption and weakens democracy.
He called for urgent reforms to strengthen internal party democracy, check the commercialisation of politics and preserve the integrity of Nigeria’s democratic process.
