advertisement

With its spread well across nearly all the geo-political zones of the country, the PDP is the party to beat in any election contest today.

Before now, the party had conducted its primaries and conventions in a manner too far from what could throw up the Messianic candidates Nigeria's electorate had been yearning for.

Most of the contestants could only win at the conventions or primaries if only they could corrupt most of the party delegates to earn their votes, or if the contestant had the backing of some godfathers.

In our local parlance, "carrygo" is a complex expression. In this discourse it is used to depict a situation where a political leadership class (in this case within the PDP) regularly acquiesced to having the party's election candidates selected instead of elected, and the followers are constrained to accept the products with cheers. The system produced the syndrome of a diseased polity that sacrificed merit at the alters of mediocrity. The search for lucre was the game between contestants and delegates, never the search for qualitative candidates.

A less affable and less qualified but 'advantaged' contestant who otherwise could not have won the votes of the delegates, nonetheless, those of the electorate in his constituency, would pitch tent with the PDP and would subsequently exploit this "carrygo" phenomenon to his advantage. At some point the product of the obnoxious selection system would be christened the consensus candidate by party operatives.

After each year's primaries and general elections proper, a torrent of candidates aggrieved by the system would pile the pressure on the judiciary with petitions that were in many cases as intricate to handle they would confound the best of judicial officers.

This political philosophy brewed and sustained by most of the PDP old guards has stunted the nation's human and economic development indices, it has distorted the concept of representative democracy in Nigeria such that the old Romans could be stirred in their graves.

Perhaps, the clamour for rotation/zoning of the presidency could not have assumed the current noisy chatter if the PDP had since 1999 (or even after that) produced candidates for elective posts through a transparent, grass roots representative method.

But perhaps the old Romans can yet rest in their graves. We may not need their assistance yet. There appears to be some silver lining on the Nigerian political horizon. Perhaps, a reforms man - or a divine intervention - is around the corner. One man that once ran away from the PDP, perhaps, because of the 'bad things' he observed in the party was recently crowned the party's chairman. His name is Okwesilieze Nwodo.

Nwodo recently told a delegation of Delta state elders and stakeholders :

"...the day we start to allow our people to chose our leaders, Nigeria will change. We are going to bring a lot of electoral reforms in the PDP because our primary elections are decided before (we get to the primaries); with all commissioners, with all special advisers, with all special assistants, chairmen of boards, appointed local government chairmen and appointed councillors, he (the governor) is already controlling 70% of the delegates. I have seen many gubernatorial aspirants struggling for 30% (of the delegates to state gubernatorial primaries), whereas one man (the incumbent governor), has more than 70% (of the delegates). Is that a contest? We have to change this (PDP) constitution, we have to make sure that all these appointees cannot be delegates to our congresses and convention"

He advised aspiring delegates to go first to their wards to get elected as party delegates to enable them qualify to participate in the choice of the party's flag bearers in elections.

On hearing these views of Nwodo, there were near-unanimous explosions of "This is it!" by enthusiastic Nigerians who had for long been held in political limbo by the PDP old guards and their "carrygo" brand of politics.

If I may repeat: PDP is the party to beat in any election here. And the party is not going away tomorrow given the stupor that pushes some members of the feeble opposition class to jump the bandwagon. You may accept it or not, if the party sneezes, all of us catch cold.

The capacity (if not the will) to choose from Nigeria's first Eleven had eluded the ruling PDP since its formation, and Nigerians have paid dearly for that; if internal democracy is domiciled within the party before its forthcoming party convention and primaries, Ezekwesili Nwodo and his co-reformists must have etched their names on gold.

But many are yet to be convinced Nwodo was not merely dancing to the gallery.

This is in view of the fact that carrying out the sort of reforms he enunciated before the Delta state delegates can never be a Lemon-on-Tea party for him and his group. The godfathers and the ever-mushrooming Forums within the PDP - especially, those seeking re-election - are likely to fight back. But the PDP chairman and his reformist group must be emboldened by two factors:

1. if they succeed in institutionalising internal democracy within the party, they must win the admiration of all including those who lost out because of the reforms.

2. the time has come to cure the 800lb gorilla of its "Carrygo" disease before the disease kills it.