Washington Osifo, a former Commissioner for Education in Edo State, has asserted that no major political party “has the capacity to conduct a free and fair primary election without leadership interference.”
He was reacting to the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries held across the state on Saturday.
“That’s integral to the party system, whose main focus is how to present a candidate who is well entrenched in the party and could muster the political muscle to win the election.
“Someone may possess political assets to win general elections without the wherewithal to easily emerge as candidate due to variants in the dynamics of both forms of elections. It’s impractical to adopt the western style wholesale liberalization of internal politics of the party in an immature democratic environment such as ours.
“In the states with serving governors, the incumbent governor plays a big role in the emergence of his successor. Conversely, the party leader plays a similar role in sub nationals where there are no governors.”
According to him, “let us submit to the internal mechanics and dynamics of the party which has always resolved issues amicably with all sides coming out as winners.”
