Senate leader, we are just back from the primaries and would like to know what has happened?
Well it was a
complete sham and I can confidently say that if what we just saw was an
election, then our democracy is in recession. The standards for primaries usually starts by publishing the Delegate List so that people get to know who the delegates are and those who would be participating in that election. But in today’s instance, there were two lists in circulation so that we don’t even know which one was used and my Agent raised an objection publicly about that by asking which List was being used, the answer was that the list being used was the one given to them by the Party.
I am a Contestant and is entitled to know the List given by the Party. So we went into the Primaries not knowing who the Delegates were, which List was being used and it is fundamental in an electoral contest that those who are going to participate in an election are known especially when they is more than one List in circulation.
Secondly, you must
show that the Ballot Box is empty, that was done. Thirdly, you must display sensitive materials that are to be used for the election such as the Ballot Papers and the Result Sheets.
I got to see the Ballot Paper for the first time when I was given it to go and cast. Nobody saw the Result Sheet, it was never displayed.
Fourthly, after accreditation, nobody informed us how many people have been accredited. Especially during such an exercise, you announce how many people have been accredited. But we went into that one, not knowing what number of delegate, who was accredited and how many were present.
And then people who had absolutely no business with the process or were they delegates milling around the whole place with very strange security, neither Police nor SSS, nor the Nigerian Army all coming into the place. So as far as I am concerned the exercise is a total sham and I unequivocally reject the outcome of it.
Having noticed the irregularities, what is your next line of action?
Certainly there is an appeal process within this whole process. There will be an appeal panel and I am formally lodging an appeal for whatever it should be. But let it be placed on record that the Primaries were fundamentally flawed and cannot stand any scrutiny, they don’t even meet the minimum level of integrity.
What does this portend for our democracy?
If this is the pattern, then clearly our democracy is in recession. We are losing grounds that we have already gained. And it will be a pity because all I have stood for is to fight for space and to fight for choices but clearly our democracy has no opportunity for space for choices.
What do you tell people of the State and the people of
the Central who are disturbed having seen what is going on as you have seen?
Well, I think they
should speak out. If we don’t speak out, our democracy will never grow or
deepen. If we accept this level of impunity, today we may be beneficiaries of
impunity but clearly someday soon, we will also be victims.
What do you say to
your teeming supporters out there?
They should remain
calm and law-abiding and continue to have faith in our democracy
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