Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday held different views over the suggestion by the Peoples Democratic Party to pick its presidential candidate for the 2015 poll through consensus.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, Chief Tony Anenih, who flew the kite last week, zeroed in on President Goodluck Jonathan as a possible consensus candidate for the presidential election.
But the method, otherwise known as “automatic ticket”, split lawmakers in Abuja on Tuesday.
While some of them described it as “undemocratic”, others argued that it would reduce bickering among politicians and save the cost of conducting primaries.
House Deputy Majority Leader and PDP member from Delta State, Mr. Leo Ogor, claimed that it was a “standard practice all over the world.”
He added that the PDP could measure the performance level of the President and come to the conclusion that he should be the consensus candidate for 2015.
Ogor added, “Let Mr. President be given the right of first refusal, he can turn it down if he doesn’t want.
“We dissipate so much energy and waste a lot of resources fighting over primaries in the PDP, it is unnecessary.
“Other political parties, like the Action Congress of Nigeria, do not bother about primaries; why is the case of PDP different?
“Yes, people say it is not in the constitution. Must everything be in the constitution?
“This is an internal affair of the party; it is the same party that is considering automatic ticket for elections.”
But, another lawmaker from Taraba State, Mr. Ibrahim El-Sudi, dismissed the idea when The PUNCH sought his views.
El-Sudi, a lawyer, said the idea would not allow internal democracy to grow in the PDP.
He added, “As far as I am concerned, that is undemocratic. Let us give the principle of internal democracy a chance. People should be allowed to vie for positions freely to test their popularity.
“Democracy is an expression of what the people want, so, if you are popular, go and test your popularity.”
Mr. Bitrus Kaze from Plateau State, backed El-Sudi’s position.
He argued that the idea was not only undemocratic but that Nigeria was not yet ripe to practise it.
“This proposal is not practicable at this stage of our democracy.
“When you say an incumbent should simply continue as the automatic candidate, you are not creating opportunities to give others a chance to express themselves.
“Elections are popularity contests; so we cannot be thinking of automatic ticket yet.
“It is too early for us as an evolving democracy”, Kaze said.
However, a member from Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Akpan Mike-Umoh, supported Anenih’s suggestion, saying that it was a “family affair” that must be left for the party to decide as it pleased.
Mike-Umoh, like Ogor, noted that the polity was usually overheated during PDP’s primaries.
Besides, he observed that other political parties used the same method “quietly” without becoming an issue. The lawmaker argued further, “PDP is a family and the issue of consensus candidacy is a family affair.
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