Residents of Lagos
Island Constituency II still have not found any comprehensible
explanation to the outcome of the Action Congress of Nigeria’s state
House of Assembly primary election and they have regarded the exercise
as a sham. Some of the residents, who claimed to be members of the
Action Congress of Nigeria expressed shock over the emergence of Wahab
Alawiye-King, in an election he did not contest, as the party’s
“rumoured” candidate in the forthcoming general elections in Lagos
Island Constituency II.
“We still believe
it is a rumour for now because none of the party leadership has told us
the party’s standpoint,” said Wale Ogunsola, a resident of Dolphin
Estate, who also accused the contestants for the constituency’s
representation at the state legislature of connivance.
“Imagine that 16
people, plus the incumbent, making 17, contested for the Lagos Island
Constituency II’s primary election but the party did not see any of
them as qualified enough. They have to now imposed Alawiye-King, who
has been representing Lagos Island Constituency I, on us.”
A sham called primary election
According to the
party supporters, the Independent National Electoral Commission should
not have accepted the conducted primary elections, especially that of
the state and federal legislative positions.
“It [the primary
elections] is nothing but outright disregard for the wishes of the
party followers,” said another resident of Campos, Wasiu Adeola. Mr.
Adeola said the election was conducted “strictly on the basis of vote
and leave,” and this ensured the votes were not counted in the presence
of any delegate.
“In fact, they did not even allow contestants have to nominate agents which will represent them at the counting of the votes.”
Delegates were not
the only group that did not witness the counting of the votes,
journalists were equally asked to leave when counting was about to
start. Also, contestants, who spoke under the condition of anonymity,
said the votes were not counted in their presence.
“We also did not
witness the counting of the votes,” said one of the 17 contestants, “we
were asked to go and we also got to know the result of the primaries on
the pages on newspaper.”
Cascaded illegality
The emergence of
Mr. Alawiye-King, according to some of the contestants violated several
conditions. First, he has never expressed his intention of contesting
the election as a representative of Lagos island Constituency I, as
required by submission of a Letter of Intention. Secondly, he was not
screened as an contestant for the constituency’s seat at the state
House of Assembly. Thirdly, he did not even contest the primary
election.
“So which party
arrangement will bypass all these requirements to foist a candidate on
17 contestants?” an contestant asked. More painful for the contestants
is the fact that the party leadership has not deemed it fit to call
them and explain why the decision was taken. It is still a “rude shock”
that they have been ignored till now as there is yet any official
notification from the party.
However, Bamidele
Aturu, a human rights lawyer, said it is not legally wrong for Mr.
Alawiye-King to contest election in another constituency. He however
questioned the moral uprightness of such act.
“It is unfortunate
that the final say of who becomes the flag bearer for an elective
office rests with the party,” he said, “that is one of the weaknesses
of what we call law. There should be a transparent primary election and
that should be the final, being a representation of the wish of the
people. But ACN, especially have that problem [of candidate
imposition].”
Possibility of a protest vote
The contestants are
finding it difficult to placate their supporters, who have started
asking questions for which they have no answer.
“We have been doing
our best to calm them, telling them we believe the party leadership
will not do what is injurious to democratic tenets. However, the
silence from the party leadership is making look stupid to our
supporters and we are afraid things may get out of hand,” said an
contestant.
“Although, the contestants are telling us the party has not decided
who the candidate will be, we believe Alawiye-King has been imposed
because we saw him the day he came to do his voters registration,” said
Mr. Adeola, who complained that if the party does not listen to the
complaints of the aggrieved residents of the constituency, a protest
vote, as witnessed recently in Ikorodu Constituency II bye-election, is
in the offing.
