Civil rights groups to monitor Ekiti, Osun primary elections



By Ayo Oluwole

The Nigerian Human Rights Community, (NHRC) has said that its officials will monitor the primary elections in Ekiti and the State of Osun. According to a statement issued by the group on Thursday, the NHRC, a coalition of several civil society groups said sustainable democratic culture begins with a credible and transparent party primary.The statement was made available to Irohinoodua this afternoon.

The Ekiti APC primary comes up on May 4 while the election has been fixed for July 14. Osun primary and gubernatorial election comes after Ekiti poll.

All the registered political parties are expected to complete their primary elections before the end of May.

“Our intention is to monitor the primary of the major political parties, beginning with that of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and that of other political parties taking place in Ekiti from next week. We are going to produce a comprehensive report that we hope will help strengthen internal democracy” the statement signed by NHRC officials, Mr Micheal Ajayi and Abdulrahman Motajo stated. The NHRC said it will deploy 30 officials to Ekiti state beginning from this week to monitor the party primary.

The group said the future of transparency in democracy and sustainable development begins with a credible primary election.

“We have written to the political parties that we are going to monitor the primary elections. In actual fact the test of the will of the people and the task of building an enduring democracy begins with dependable primary election. Nigeria cannot make progress where there is no honest and people-driven primary election”, the NHRC stated.

The group said political parties are found of manipulating the primary through several tricks which at the end may lead to the emergence of a less credible candidate whose loyalty is to party stalwarts instead of loyalty to the people. It said exclusion, imposition and the overriding influence of corruption in Nigeria begins with having a party primary that represents the will of the people saying that organized violence and underdevelopment cannot be isolated from a transparent and forthright party primary.

“There cannot be a people-driven electoral process when candidates are imposed by alien interests. The Ekiti and Osun elections must enjoy the confidence of not only the members of the political parties but also the confidence of the voters. The reputation of elections and democracy begins with the form and content of the party primary”, the group said.