Encomium
Today’s announcement by All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos branch that it’s adopting direct primaries for the election of its candidates for the 2019 general elections have sent fears down the spine of many of the aspirants.
What direct primaries mean is that all members of the party from wards to state levels will now participate in electing party candidates for all elective posts.
For instance, an aspirant to the state house of assembly would secure the majority votes cast by all the party members in all the wards of that constituency before he could emerge the candidate of the party’s in the house of assembly.
In the manner, an aspirant to the house of representatives seat in the National Assembly will have to win the majority votes cast by members of the party in that Federal constituency before he could emerge the party’s candidate.
In the case of senate seat aspirant, he or she has to win the majority votes cast by all members of the party in that senatorial district before he or she emerges the party’s candidate for the election.
A governorship aspirant would have to win the majority of votes cast by members of the party in the whole of the state. That is, if the party has one million members in a state, they must participate in the primary election to elect the governorship candidate of the party.
Gone are the days when only selected few members ( in most cases party executives from the wards level to state level ) are the privileged few who usually participate in electing party candidates in elections.
Such a system called delegate votes had made many rich at the expense of majority members of the party.
