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Importance of open primary elections

The solution to the country’s
sacrifice of merit on the alter of political exigencies is to put in
place a proper democratic system.

The foundation of democracy is absent in our country. Why is it not there?

Because primary elections are not
done. In fact, in the last few elections, if you observe, there were no
sincere elections. People were handpicked from here and there.
Handpicking is not election, it is more like an appointment. They would
say consensus, who is the consensus? The electorate should have the
consensus. Let them be given the chance to give their votes and to say
yes we want Mr. X and not Mr. Y. That has not been done. This problem
is not only the PDP’s. This problem is in every party in this country.

PDP’s zoning and Goodluck’s Eligiblity

There is need to have a sense of belonging. That is why the party instituted a zoning system.

If the zoning system stands, the
right thing is for the next president to come from the North. Because
Obasanjo has given us two tenures, I remember Obasanjo and I spoke
about that face to face in 2003 when he was going to go back for the
second term. I was advised to turn down my ambition and to allow him go
for a second term and he did say we would allow the North to also have
two terms.

And it was because of what he said
that late Abubakar Rimi and (Barnabas) Gemade went to court and made
sure they contested because they wanted to contest and they did.

I did not because we were told to
allow Obasanjo to go for one more term. And he did say, at that time,
‘after this term I will make sure, as the president, power shifts to
the North.’

Finding the best amongst us

The zoning formula could be
discarded if eventually meritocracy was to be the order. My answer is
simple. We can only find the good ones if the platform of democracy is
properly put in place which, at the moment, is not there. So let’s put
in place a proper democratic system. We have credible people all across
the country and it doesn’t matter where he or she comes from. We are a
population of over 140 million. We have people who are sincere, but are
never given the chance.

I remember saying in one of my
books that Nelson Mandela was locked up for 27 years; but in Nigeria.
people are not locked up like Nelson Mandela but I want to tell you
that the apartheid of Nigeria is as bad as what happened in then
Apartheid South Africa. The only differnce is that we are all of the
same colour. There’s a big distinction between those people who believe
that Nigeria belongs to them, and they are in minute numbers, and the
others.

The best of us, including myself, have been locked out.

Mandela was locked up. We are locked out of every system.

We are running a system where the
good ones are locked out. Part of what we are doing today is to see how
we can penetrate to ensure we are now part of the system to bring
change. As you know, there’s also a reform in the PDP and I am a member
of that reform group. The reform is to bring changes to the party.

The PDP reform group

The reform conference is now opening its eyes properly to see what
is going to happen. There should be a platform that gives everybody
that sense of belonging by allowing the electorates to choose who will
represent them. This can only be possible when the framework for
democracy is put in place to ensure that not only general elections,
but also primary elections are credible.