The Destructive Disadvantage Of Printing Only One Nomination Form By A Political Party For Any Position.
By Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP.
Okwubunka of Asa and Okeamadi Gburugburu.
Wednesday (Orie) 15-04-2026.
According to the time table released by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Nigeria is in the season of Primary Elections by her registered Political Parties.
Preceeding this season is the 2026 amendment of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, giving way to Electoral Act 2026.
By the 2026 constitutional amendment, there shall be only two modes through which a Political Party in Nigeria can produce her candidate for any particular election. One is by Consensus, and the other is through Direct Primary election.
Consensus, according to the Constitution, implies either there is only one aspirant interested in the position and, so, is returned unopposed or that other aspirants to the position have voluntarily withdrawn for one amongst them.
Where Consensus fails, Direct Primary Election shall take its course. This mode involves all card-carrying members of the Political Party in the respective constituency.
Having only two modes of producing a Political Party’s candidate means that the previous method of producing candidates, using Delegates, has become a thing of the past.
In view of this development, it is incumbent upon Leaders of Political Parties to be very altruistic and circumspect in the processes leading to emergence of their Candidates. They just have to appreciate the complexities that could result from this innovation.
If, out of greed or any form of selfish consideration, the process or exercise of producing a Political Party’s candidate is devoid of honesty, transparency, inclusiveness and fairness, the outcome would be catrosophic. This is because the bitterness and vindictiveness it would generate could lead to electoral misfortune for the Party. It has happened many times.
The worst a Political Party could contemplate, and which is the fastest way of ruining its electoral chances is to suppress, overtly or covertly, aspirants from expressing their intention to run for any given post, simply by printing or making available only one nomination form, with a particular aspirant in mind. It is avoidably destructive. Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2015 was said to have printed only one Presidential Nomination Form and former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was believed to have had a monopoly of the form. That singular act became the genesis of the woes of the Party.
Therefore, for any Political Party in Nigeria to be sure of navigating the political storms of 2027, it must make sure that the process of electing her candidates for various elections is openly characterized by proven honesty, transparency, inclusiveness, equity, justice and fairness. No attempt should be made, whatsoever, by Leaders of any Political Party to intimidate, humiliate, suppress and/or shortchange any aspirant.
In the very likely or unlikely event of greed or arrogance paving way to such an ugly situation, the concomitant effect would not only be failure but also regret.
The caveat emptor here amplifies a common proverb, ‘to be forewarned is to be forearmed’. Let no desirous Aspirant be denied buying a nomination form to pursue his or her aspiration, as it is undemocratic, and let the Party Executive or Leaders, at any level, not manipulate the internal process of nominating a Candidate to the disadvantage of any Asapirant. That has always been the waterloo of Political Parties with disingenuous leadership.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
