The Danger In Delaying Results Of Primary Elections.
Wednesday (Afor) 03-06-2026.
Spontaneous announcement of results of primary elections conducted by Political Parties has the capability of enhancing cohesion in Political Parties.
Experience has shown over the years, that Primary Elections, especially of big Political Parties, are often, if not always, very expensive. Many Aspirants have, after going the whole hog of their Party’s Primary Election, developed shocks to their hearts and some stroke, leading some to abrupt death.
Political Parties should be vehicles that convey the beauty, joy and attractions of true democracy. By this understanding, Political Parties should not serve as conduit or exploitation pipes. Unfortunately, in this part of the world, Aspirants are made to bleed just to purchase Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms, rendering democracy too costly.
Under normal circumstances, once an Aspirant is able to purchase his forms and is successfully screened to stand for the primary election, what ought to matter most should be his or her acceptability by the Party Members. Thank God the era of almighty delegates are over in Nigeria’s primary election calculations.
Some Political Parties have, for no reason other than selfish exploitative tendencies, refused to formally announce results of their primary elections conducted more than two weeks ago. It is feared that some top leaders of the Parties are doing so deliberately to delay the results, frustrate the actual winners, by so doing, create uncertainty and instability in the system, and, eventually end up coercing Aspirants, even including the real winner of the primary election, to cough out more money to them. Depending on the financial capability of the actual winner, an Aspirant who did not come close to the real winner could have his name surprisingly and dubiously declared winner of the primary election.
Some members of National Working Committees of some of the big Political Parties in Nigeria could be very happy subjecting the Aspirants to heartless brutal financial exploitation and, may be, comfortably building Duplexes in Abuja and Hotels in different towns, without giving any thought to the fact that if the Parties’ Candidates win elections, the Parties will be in a very advantageous position to ask them to appreciate them financially and otherwise.
What is happening currently in some of the big Political Parties is that some greedy National Working Committee Members have so hand twisted a good number of the Aspirants that running the forthcoming elections, even if they manage to raise the humongous amount of money being demanded by the corrupt Party Officials, will be very difficult for them to prosecute.
If a Political Party is structured on corruption, exploitation of Aspirants, and conducts that are at variance with altruism and the principles of liberal democracy, its downfall does not take much time.
Aspirants in some of these Parties are said to be complaining bitterly to whoever that cares to listen to them over unabated reckless exploitation they have been subjected to by shylocks in the NWC of the Parties.
It should not be forgotten that money extracted from an aggrieved and broken heart only goes to deplete the one the exploiter had accumulated before. If such money is invested on children in the family, those children may end up as drug addicts whose chances of killing their fathers are very high. Even those buildings they are using the ill-gotten money to build or buy in Abuja will surely be sold by their nature-compelled wayward children and used to smoke Igbo and other related hard drugs.
For the safety and stability of Nigeria’s democracy, let National Working Committees of Political Parties in Nigeria release results of Primary Elections forthwith. Anything short of this, will be an avoidable dangerous disadvantage and threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
