Connect with us
Advertisement

Politics

Indirect Primaries Will Breed Corruption – Sen. Sani Tells APC

Published

on

Shehu Sani Reacts As Buhari Govt Set To Ban Ponmo
Advertisement

Sen. Shehu Sani, a Nigerian Senator, has admonished the All Progressive Congress (APC) to forfeit the idea of an indirect primaries, describing it has “breeding ground for corruption in the country’s democracy”.

The Senator representing Kaduna, made this known while submitting a petition  to the party’s National Chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, in Abuja on Tuesday.

The petition explicitly outlined the importance of adopting direct primaries to produce its candidates that will contest the 2019 general elections.

Advertisement

Sani said the petition was sequel to the debate that came up after the APC sixth National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting adopted indirect primaries to elect its candidates for the forthcoming elections.

He stated that the indirect primaries is more or less a guise needed to induce delegate with public fund to toe a pre-determined line of action.

He urged the party’s leadership to deal with political corruption by eliminating indirect primaries.

Advertisement

The delegate system, otherwise called indirect primaries, will rely on the whims and caprices of the few that now control the party after emerging from ward, local government and state congresses.

“The congresses that have been widely rejected by party members as a sham.

“We are particularly in opposition to indirect primaries because of the weakening effects of its corruptive tendencies.

Advertisement
Advertisement

“The entire process begins and ends with vote-buying, and as it is always the case, where the will of the electorate is subverted, the best candidates for the task ahead, never gets recruited.

“It is our humble opinion that the forthcoming 2019 general election is too crucial for the APC and Kaduna state.

“It is too strategic for us to confront the array of near formidable candidates of the opposition with anything less than our very best candidates,” he said.

Sani maintained that “indirect primaries stand as direct antithesis to the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to fight corruption at all levels.

According to him, APC having promoted the change mantra must shine the light onto those dark places in the country’s electoral system where ill-gotten wealth is used to subvert the will of the electorate.

According to The Nation, Sani pointed out that the proponents of indirect primaries, particularly the Kaduna state governor, were relying on the pretext that the current security situation in their respective states made direct primaries impracticable and risky.

This proposition, the senator said, out-rightly contradicted the claims by Gov. Nasir el-Rufai that Kaduna state had overcome his security challenges.