We can’t use ongoing party primaries to elect credible leaders – Jonathan

Nigeria’s former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has criticised the ongoing political primaries by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the country is not likely to elect credible leaders from the candidates.

Speaking on Thursday, in Abuja, at the launch of a book, titled: ‘Political Party Governance’, authored by Dr. Mohammed Wakil, a former Minister of State Power, Jonathan said it was disgraceful to bribe delegates with money to get their votes and then request for refund after failing to secure the tickets.

RELIABLESOURCENG.COM reports that the media have been replete with reports of how some desperate aspirants have been inducing delegates with large sums to vote for them.

There was a particular report of how the son of Jonathan’s former deputy, Namadi Sambo, demanded a refund from delegates who collected his money but failed to vote for him.

“These whole primaries going on across the country is a mess. This is not a standard practice. The process has failed.

“We cannot use the process to elect president, governors, senators and House of Representatives members and others.

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“The process is already failed, which is not good for the country. But we will manage and move on.

“We pray that good people should come. I hope that what happened this year, 2022 will not happen again in this country,” the former president regrated.

Jonathan urged the National Assembly to make laws to criminalise inducement of delegates and electorate.

He also asked the legislature to expunge from the Electoral Act, the sections that state how political parties should select candidates for elections.

According to Jonathan, “The National Assembly can’t make laws and lock all political parties together. Parties have different ways of nominating candidates and the process is enshrined in their constitutions.

“Creating a situation where all parties must have the same way of selecting candidates is nonsense. Parties are not parastatals of government.

“The National Assembly can’t make laws to strangulate political parties. Section 84 should be expunged from the Electoral Act.”