Why ACN imposes candidates – Akande
News Jan 20, 2011

By GBENGA OLARINOYE

OSHOGBO— NATIONAL Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Chief Bisi Akande, has justified the imposition of candidates by party elders saying it was the culture of the party that the leadership knew best.

Akande who spoke in an interview with newsmen also defended the choice of erstwhile Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC as the party’s presidential candidate. He said that with the choice of Ribadu, the party has commenced the process of turning over leadership to the youths.

The ACN chairman who spoke to newsmen as part of events marking his birthday  noted: “The British democracy is the oldest in the world and you cannot see political parties there conducting primary elections before choosing their candidates. They do it by picking competent hands that are trustworthy in the judgment of the party. So, we believe that elections under a democratic setting is when we are contesting with other political party during polls.

“If election within our party is what you are trying to describe as internal democracy, then we reject such idea. Can we impose when we are contesting against PDP?

Party knows what people want

continue here   http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/01/why-acn-imposes-candidates-akande/

ACN aspirants in Osun protest imposition of candidates

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Written by Tunde Oyekola Thursday, 20 January 2011

Aspirants who are contesting elections into the Osun State House of Assembly and Houes of Representatives on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun State, on Wednesday, staged a protest on the alleged imposition of candidates by the leadership of the party.

The aspirants, who were armed with placards, condemned the alleged picking of candidates that would contest the April 2011 general election without allowing the aspirants to go through primary elections as stipulated in the party’s constitution and 2010 Electoral Act.

Some of the placards displayed by the aspirants and their supporters read: “We say no to imposition of candidates in ACN; imposition is not true democracy; unpopular candidate can’t deliver for us in Osun State; let there be primary election in Osun; let peace reign in Osun; ACN aspirants in Osun want primaries for house of assembly, House of Representatives and Senate,” among others.

But the director of research and publicity, Honourable Sunday Akere, said that the aspirants had no case, as they had already signed an undertaking not to challenge any decision of the party.

Addressing a press conference at the NUJ Press Centre, Osogbo, some of the aspirants said that they were surprised when they saw the names of candidates pasted on the notice board of the party secretariat last Saturday without the conduct of primary elections for aspirants who underwent screening between January 9 and 12.


http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/16416-acn-aspirants-in-osun-protest-imposition-of-candidates

So that's how they intend to keep on imposing their own candidates on Nigerians.
Okay o!

Its a pity!

I see no hope for this party.

This idea will definitely destroy ACN just like it did for AD during the days of Pa Abraham Adesanya.
If not for Tinubu who designed the AC platform, where will Baba Akande be today?
Imposition of candidate is just like employing somebody without proper interview, it reduces competitive spirit
and it makes the aspirants to think less about the electorates.
Chief Bisi Akande himself was a product of imposition b4 he became a governor. Then Iyiola Omisore was the financier of the party late in Bola Ige days. When they were launching the Party(AD), it was Omisore' Vehicles that were taking them round the southwest(Chrisore Engineering written on those vehicles). Then i was in OAU.
When the time came for the primaries, we were expecting Omisore to emerge when they just announced that a 63-man committee had met at Osun presidential Hotel in Osogbo to nominate Bisi Akande as the flagbearer and Omisore was to deputise. Because of frustration and other sidelining, he left AD to join PDP.
I love ACN 'cos of their unrelenting opposition but if this kind of trend should continue, I doubt their progress.

This had better be a joke

This is certainly not sustainable. The same mistake that made them lose out in 2003!

Dem go soon hear am again.

There's a thing to be said of  ACN's 'custom' of having a major say in the selection of candidates, even though, on first thought, the idea looks undemocratic.

Candidate imposition is common in the UK. Any one remembers the 'Blair Babes' during Tony Blair's time? Basically, the Labour party imposed several young & aspirational women on constituencies up & down the country,, & guesss what, more women, as a proportion of the voting electorate, voted for the Labour party, than at any previous election in history.

In d 2010 elections, the Conservative Party imposed several young professionals, bankers, lawyers etc on constituencies, 'cause they believed these smart, photogenic, TV-friendly types were more likely to attract votes. In many cases these candidates had absolutely no connection with the constituency they were due to rep. Think of a 30 yr old lawyer from Lagos, being imposed on a constituency in Adamawa, a place he's prob never been to. The constituents in the UK often complain, but their party's headquarters do get their way.

Thats not to say if it's done in the UK, it is right for nigeria,  Nonetheless, I believe there are even more compelling reasons why small parties such as the Acn shd pay close attention to d selection of candidates. Here's what happened in my constituency:

Mr A contested for the Hse of Rep seat  in 2007, but lost marginally to the Pdp candidate. Following his loss, & after the political jobbers had run back to Abuja, he continued to work arduously for his party within the grassroots in the constituency . When he signalled his intention to run again in the 2011 elections, there was overwhelming support by constituents for his candidacy based on his sacrifice for the party.

Everything changed in Oct 2010, 3 mths to party primaries, when a money bag from Abuja who had not visited the town in years turned up & picked up a nomination form for the seat. He proceeded to splash cash in a way that's never been seen in the area, & in the process 'bought' the handful of delegates that wld vote in d primaries.

Our guy that's been working so hard to keep the party going in the constituency but who had no money, was suddenly pushed aside by local party chiefs in favour of the moneybag.

Party HQ folks from outer state intervened when this story got to them. They insisted the poor hard working guy must be the party's candidate.  The local party officials who had been bought by d wealthy candidate ran to the press accusing party HQ of imposing a candidate.

This is the story up & down d country, where pple with money and who had previuosly shown absolutely no interest in politics, suddenly turn up a few months bf primaries & use their money to displace candidates who had been working hard for d best part of 3.5 yrs.

Although d word 'imposition' is dirty, am afraid, in some cases it is absolutely necessary.

Continue to impose and lost then cry foul

ACN and its candidates are weak, less they have forgotten that only the strong survives

The act of imposing isn't just a good foundation for the ACN, transparency pls,

[b]Party knows what people wan[/b]t

Did Akande actually say that? ACN just lost my vote

this is the same reason UPN becamevery un popular in the southwest during the then awolowo days, where candidates were imposed on the
platform of BABASOPE politics, chief bola ige/omoboriowo, pa ajasin,jakande/and his then deputy. all these guys were imposed.acn must realise that today politics is widely diff, frm those days and if it refuses to adhere to modern day changes, just the way ppl were decamping to npn then frm upn. same is bound to happen in a matter of tym.

The very "apostles" of internal democracy coming up with this crappy excuse is laughable.

Ok JEGA in the same vein impose a credible president on us please? . Afterall all we want is good governance.

ode remo:

this is the same reason UPN becamevery un popular in the southwest during the then awolowo days, where candidates were imposed on the
platform of BABASOPE politics, chief bola ige/omoboriowo, pa ajasin,jakande/and his then deputy. all these guys were imposed.acn must realise that today politics is widely diff, frm those days and if it refuses to adhere to modern day changes, just the way ppl were decamping to npn then frm upn. same is bound to happen in a matter of tym.

So you remember that Party? lol . . .

was secretary UPN mushin local govt ward 2, during my poly days. . surviving then on small change trickling down to moi.
anywaz, cos we the populace don't complain and take our votes for granted. can you imagine the insult in those tyms when jakande was using Lagos state moni to prop the whole UPN UP.?
AND what was his excuse for building those shanties/pen as secondary schools?
these politicians sef go away with murder at times

ode remo:

was secretary UPN mushin local govt ward 2, during my poly days. . surviving then on small change trickling down to moi.
anywaz, cos we the populace don't complain and take our votes for granted. can you imagine the insult in those tyms when jakande was using Lagos state moni to prop the whole UPN UP.?
AND what was his excuse for building those shanties/pen as secondary schools?
these politicians sef go away with murder at times

For a time there, I actually believed that UPN was a part of the state before I realized it was just a political party IN CHARGE of the state. That thing vex me ehn! and you are right people don't complain when they ought to. I believe many of the big names we have today in Lagos today got their push from those UPN days . . .

ode remo:

was secretary UPN mushin local govt ward 2, during my poly days. . surviving then on small change trickling down to moi.[/b]anywaz, cos we the populace don't complain and take our votes for granted. can you imagine the insult in those tyms when jakande was using Lagos state moni to prop the whole UPN UP.?
AND what was his excuse for building those shanties/pen as secondary schools?
these politicians sef go away with murder at times

Kobojunkie:

[b]For a time there, I actually believed that UPN was a part of the state before I realized it was just a political party IN CHARGE of the state. That thing vex me ehn! and you are right people don't complain when they ought to. I believe many of the big names we have today in Lagos today got their push from those UPN days . . .

Awon agba dey for NL o!

E ku aigbagbe!

Missy85:

There's a thing to be said of  ACN's 'custom' of having a major say in the selection of candidates, even though, on first thought, the idea looks undemocratic.

Candidate imposition is common in the UK. Any one remembers the 'Blair Babes' during Tony Blair's time? Basically, the Labour party imposed several young & aspirational women on constituencies up & down the country,, & guesss what, more women, as a proportion of the voting electorate, voted for the Labour party, than at any previous election in history.

In d 2010 elections, the Conservative Party imposed several young professionals, bankers, lawyers etc on constituencies, 'cause they believed these smart, photogenic, TV-friendly types were more likely to attract votes. In many cases these candidates had absolutely no connection with the constituency they were due to rep. Think of a 30 yr old lawyer from Lagos, being imposed on a constituency in Adamawa, a place he's prob never been to. The constituents in the UK often complain, but their party's headquarters do get their way.

Thats not to say if it's done in the UK, it is right for nigeria,  Nonetheless, I believe there are even more compelling reasons why small parties such as the Acn shd pay close attention to d selection of candidates. Here's what happened in my constituency:

Mr A contested for the Hse of Rep seat  in 2007, but lost marginally to the Pdp candidate. Following his loss, & after the political jobbers had run back to Abuja, he continued to work arduously for his party within the grassroots in the constituency . When he signalled his intention to run again in the 2011 elections, there was overwhelming support by constituents for his candidacy based on his sacrifice for the party.

Everything changed in Oct 2010, 3 mths to party primaries, when a money bag from Abuja who had not visited the town in years turned up & picked up a nomination form for the seat. He proceeded to splash cash in a way that's never been seen in the area, & in the process 'bought' the handful of delegates that wld vote in d primaries.

Our guy that's been working so hard to keep the party going in the constituency but who had no money, was suddenly pushed aside by local party chiefs in favour of the moneybag.

Party HQ folks from outer state intervened when this story got to them. They insisted the poor hard working guy must be the party's candidate.  The local party officials who had been bought by d wealthy candidate ran to the press accusing party HQ of imposing a candidate.

This is the story up & down d country, where pple with money and who had previuosly shown absolutely no interest in politics, suddenly turn up a few months bf primaries & use their money to displace candidates who had been working hard for d best part of 3.5 yrs.

Although d word 'imposition' is dirty, am afraid, in some cases it is absolutely necessary.

Very insightful. AGreed.

Akande simply stated that candidate imposition is the culture of the ACN since time immemorial and most of the ACN/AC/AD/UPN/AG politicians were imposed.

We have tasted the products of internal democracy of PDP in the SW and also tasted products of imposition and we can decide which ones are the lesser evil.

ACN carry go jorrrrr.

Osun state for example 3 senatorial seat won by Isiaka Adeleke (Governor of the state in 1991, Current Senator), Iyiola Omisore (Deputy Governor 199-2003, Murder suspect of Attorney general Bola-Ige, Senator for 8yrs), And Olagunsoye Oyinlola(Governor of lagos State 1993, Suspected conspirator in the murder of Kudirat Abiola, Governor of Osun State 2003-2010)

Looking at these guys and their pedigree where do you think change come from for Osun State.

Missy85 and DK made good points. But, I want ACN to take more steps toward being more "democratic" though.

We cannot continue to expect a few leaders to determine and impose candidates in a democracy. No matter how good their intentions are, they will not always get it right and it may breed avoidable discontent.

I understand the need and circumstances surrounding Akande's comments as described by Missy85, that is the reason why we need to manage public opinion better and communicate effectively to our people.

EX: I did not see any candidate that would have defeated Ribadu in the ACN primaries, they should have gone ahead to conduct it and let folks vote anyway. At least for the public relation/perception benefits.

There are better ways to promote good candidates than outright imposition.

I remember those AD adverts and promo that ran across the SW in 1999 featuring Bola Ige and Pa Adesanya endorsing candidates, they can do the same internally, side with candidates promote them vigorously and let the delegates and people choose.

We can do better than this.

In politics, public perception is as important as numbers. My $0.02

Kilode,

You have to consider our society before we decide whats best for us.

Like Akande said, In the UK they dont do internal democracy, The party has manifesto and they handpick candidates who would best administer the Parties ideologies.

In Nigeria, Myssy85's scenario happens all the time, the moneybag who spends more or whoever commands more thugs win the "internal democracy" e.g How did Adedibu, Akala, Teslim Folarin vs Eleweomo saga occur.

As we progress and matured more while drifting away from money politics and thuggery we can have the US model, But for now the UK model looks better

DK, I understand, but we are not exactly practicing parliamentary democracy like they do in the UK where you essentially vote party and ideology, not necessarily individuals, I mean, parties basically assign those positions even the PM. That is the tradition and they are used to that.

I'm afraid opponents will use this against the ACN, they probably can get away with it in the SW because of the nature and tradition of SW politics. But it will be an hard-sell in other regions.

Although I'm more worried about the SW in this election, I still want the ACN to make good in-roads in other regions and become a formidable opposition party.

then they cancel and conduct new one. and people vote, that is democracy. and hold new congress.