Shehu Sani, the former Senator representing Kaduna Central has blamed politicians and political parties for undermining internal party democracy stating that monetization of primaries, and imposition of candidates, among others, led to the nullification of elections.
“Political parties and politicians contribute greatly in undermining internal party democracy which most times affects the outcomes of elections leading to the ultimate reversal of victories in courts.”
Speaking on Tuesday, days after the Court of Appeal sacked Mutfwang Manasseh as governor of Plateau State saying that the PDP in the State violated court orders to conduct a primary election in the 17 local government areas and was not validly sponsored by his party.
The Court also noted that under section 134 of the Electoral Act, it is the sole right of a political party to sponsor its candidate having met the requirements to do so.
Reacting to the court processes and judgment, Mr Sani stated that fraudulent activities in political parties marred election processes starting from the primary elections which became the focus of court judgments.
“Some of these fraudulent activities include; General Violations of the party constitution, appointment instead of the election of party Executives, allocation of party delegates to preferred candidates, changing party delegates at the last hour, organizing dubious congresses or multiple congresses, corruption of party delegates, monetization of primaries, factionalism and Godfatherly imposition of candidates.
Political parties must learn lessons from what is happening in the country now that pre-election issues are exploited to nullify election victories.”
