By: Suraju Olayinka ABDULGAFAR
The processes of choosing aspirants that become candidates to represent political parties at elections are always very contentious affairs. One powerful, unifying process for making the choices is the consensus option. The consensus option allows political parties to reach unanimity on any aspirant and nominate the person as the party’s candidate for an election.
However, the option usually come under a barrage of criticism for being a tool in the hands of many party chieftain to impose their preferences on the rest of the party members. That the option is subject to abuse is certainly not in doubt, but so also is both the much hailed direct primaries, as well as the less maligned indirect primaries.
The direct primaries are usually manipulated through the party membership list, which explains why the integrity of party register is often a subject of major disputes and controversies ahead of any primary election. The indirect primary with a delegate system is notorious for abuse as well. The process is usually hijacked by money bags in a mercantile transaction where delegates are bought and sold like commodities and the candidate with the deepest pocket buys the highest number of delegates to emerge the winner. None of the options is free from abuse as long as it is operated by humans.
It is unfortunate to continue to demonise the consensus option. The wrong and negative demonization of the option as the bane of our electoral politics amounts to mischief, misinformation, misconceptions and propaganda that can affect the quality of public discourse on internal democracy by political parties. Politics is all about consensus building. To build consensus, a politician must have the capacity to engage across any political divide through negotiation, consultation and dialogue in order to come to a common agreement to unite the people under one purpose. Political parties are formed by consensuses reached by a group of people, and here we are condemning a legally and socially accepted standard which promotes unity unlike the other two options.
The consensus mode of selecting candidates is to promote inclusion by encouraging our politicians to practice consensual politics which involves reaching out to others to find a common ground as against the increasingly adversarial approach that is making our electoral politics more acrimonious, rancorous and litigious thereby undermining our fragile polity.
Looking at the political environment in Igbogbo/Baiyeku Local Council Development Area (IBLCDA), it’s only natural for stakeholders and the public to develop anxiety amid the political struggle for who will emerge as the Chairmanship flag bearer for the All Progressives Congress. IBLCDA is indeed blessed to have two GAC members which is the apex decision maker of the Party in Lagos State, we can only hope and pray for their interest to align so as to have a smooth consensus instead of chaotic primaries. Beyond selection of candidates for elections, the time has come for our political leaders to invest their time and energy in building consensus on issues that affect people’s lives to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.
