The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the passage by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Senate of direct primary for the nomination of candidates for election, in all political parties, as a retrogressive provision that seeks to wipe off all the gains achieved in Nigeria’s electoral practice since 1999.
The PDP spoke through its National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan in a statement on Tuesday.
The party said “the decision by the APC-controlled Senate is a humongous blow to the development of democratic norms and a plot to introduce anarchy during internal party elections as currently obtainable in the APC.
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“The PDP holds that the provision is aimed at increasing the costs of nomination procedures thereby surrendering the processes to money bags against the wishes and aspiration of Nigerians.
“Our party makes bold to state that with the exception of the APC, which intends to deploy looted funds in future election, hardly will there be any political party that will be able to raise the cost of conducting internal elections under a direct primary process.
“This is why the decision of the Senate has elicited widespread rejection from Nigerians across board.
“The PDP therefore urges the Senate to immediately deploy its appropriate legislative instruments to reverse itself on the direct primary as it is not operable and does not reflect the wishes and aspiration of majority of Nigerians.”
