THE DIRECT PRIMARIES OPTION IN THE NIGERIAN ELECTORAL PROCESS 2015-2023: A PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The legislative framework for the selection of electoral candidates by political parties in Nigeria's Fourth Republic was first made by the Electoral Act 2010 (as repealed) and further retained by the Act of 2022 which provided for the direct, indirect, and consensus options for political parties. The parties through their elite leaderships have shown overwhelming preference for the indirect procedure over the direct which informs thekey question that this paper interrogates. Using qualitative document analytical method together with the Democratic theory supporting the Elite, the paper examines the extent to which critical factors like the nature of Nigerian federal presidentialism, electoral system and its component processes among other variables impact the consideration of primaries procedure. Data for the study was collected from secondary sources and analysed qualitatively. Our findings establish among others that the elite dominance of the governing and party executive is largely responsible for the non-adoption of the procedure save and except the legal obligation for its use in the councillorship elections nationwide. The paper concludes that the Nigerian federal presidential democracy can get inclusively more participatory, and accordingly recommends that the direct primaries procedure be extended to all elective legislative representations up from the present councillorships for the next phase of electoral reforms.

Full text

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
Journal of Research and Development Studies
Volume 7 No.1 July (2023)
www.Lbrucepublications.com
THE DIRECT PRIMARIES OPTION IN THE NIGERIAN ELECTORAL PROCESS 2015-2023: A PERSPECTIVE
OKECHUKWU F. NDECHE
Department of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja
okeyndeche@yahoo.com
Samuel O. IROYE
Department of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja.
siroye@noun.edu.ng
Philips O. OKOLO
Department of Political Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
Niger Delta University
Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State
philips.okolo@ndu.edu.ng
ABSTRACT: The legislative framework for the selection of electoral candidates by political parties in Nigeria’s
Fourth Republic was first made by the Electoral Act 2010 (as repealed) and further retained by the Act of 2022
which provided for the direct, indirect, and consensus options for political parties. The parties through their elite
leaderships have shown overwhelming preference for the indirect procedure over the direct which informs
thekey question that this paper interrogates. Using qualitative document analytical method together with the
Democratic theory supporting the Elite, the paper examines the extent to which critical factors like the nature of
Nigerian federal presidentialism, electoral system and its component processes among other variables impact
the consideration of primaries procedure. Data for the study was collected from secondary sources and analysed
qualitatively. Our findings establish among others that the elite dominance of the governing and party executive
is largely responsible for the non-adoption of the procedure save and except the legal obligation for its use in the
councillorship elections nationwide. The paper concludes that the Nigerian federal presidential democracy can
get inclusively more participatory, and accordingly recommends that the direct primaries procedure be extended
to all elective legislative representations up from the present councillorships for the next phase of electoral
reforms.
Key words: Democracy, elections, elite, parties, presidential, primaries.
INTRODUCTION
The adoption of the Unites States’ style presidential system of government or presidentialism by
the 1979 Nigerian Constitution together with the operative electoral regulatory framework Decree No.
73 of 1977 at thetime left out any procedure for selecting candidates of political parties for public
elective offices to the leadership of the parties. The 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) re-
established presidentialismand created the framework for the existence of political parties but left the
regulatory framework for their organisation and operation to the legislative enactment of the National
Assembly. The Electoral Act 2010 (as repealed) was the first such legislation that provided for political
parties to conduct primaries for the nomination of candidates to public elective office.

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
Political parties in Nigeria have shown from literature their preference for the indirect delegate
system procedure in the selection of their electoral candidates since the introduction of the
electorallegal framework that regulates the conduct of primaries in Nigeria in 2010. According to
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) (2020a), 73 of 91political parties in the country at the
time nominated presidential candidates in 2018 for the 2019 General Election but only one party did so
using the direct primaries procedure.One of the factors responsible for this preference according to
scholars is in the electoral system that impacts the party system (Bekenova, 2022;Duverger, 1964, 2001,
2021). The Nigerian electoral system embodied in the electoral legal framework (ELF) operates universal
suffrage voter list for electing single-member-constituency legislative representatives on a first-past-the-
post (FPTP) system in which the candidate with the most votes is declared the winner while this plurality
is combined with geographical spread of votes requirement for chief executive positions. The FPTP
according to Bekenova (2022) promotes a dominant elite party system with strong preference for
restrictive rules of selecting electoral candidates in a winner-takes- all contest.
The effort by the National Assembly to legislate the direct primaries procedure in 2021 as the
only option was vetoed by the President. The reason for not ascertaining the preference of the mass of
the people before vetoing the legislation has not been fully interrogatedby scholars and practitioners.
The impact and importance of the direct primaries procedure to enhanced participatory democracy has
been understudied. This paper is a contribution in closing the literature gap by attempting to answer the
questionof why the direct primaries procedure is not the preferred optionin the selection of electoral
candidates by political parties in the Nigerian electoral process. The paper looks at key variablesand
their relationship effects with the choice of primaries option in the elections conducted between 2015-
2023.
Conceptual Explications
This paper discusseskey conceptual framings that are critical factors underpinning the
relationship between the political parties and their preferred primaries procedure for selecting their
electoral candidates.
The Concept of Federal Presidentialism
The presidential system of government or presidentialism which originated in the United States
with its 1787 Constitution that created the office of president as the head of state was introduced in
Nigeria through the 1979 Constitution that birthed the Second Republic 1979-1983 (Baba, 2018;
Nwabueze, 2008). This form of government is defined by an elected head of the executive branch of
government typically with the title of ‘president’ and who is also the head of state. The three arms of
government in the presidential system are separate and independent of one another with fixed terms of
office of the chief executive and the legislative. According to Fix-Fierro and Salazar-Ugarte (2012)
presidentialism developed as an alternative to both monarchy and the parliamentary system of
government. The system has inbuilt checks and balances embedded in the constitutional separation of
powers of government into the executive, legislative, and judicative branches.
Nigeria is a federal republic according to1999 Constitution (as amended). The Nigerian
presidentialism operates at the federal, state, and local government levels of the federation hence the
identity of federal presidentialism (Fagbadebo & Fagbadebo, 2020; Adedire, 2023). Despite the inherent
checks and balances, the presidential system according to Baba (2018) is dominated by the executive
branch with a tendency to hyper-presidentialism. According to Nwozor et al. (2021) there is a
reinforcing evidential relationship between elite domination in the Nigerian presidentialism and the
abandonment of the direct primaries procedure as a means of choosing electoral candidates.
The huge appointing powers available to the president predisposes the occupant to a tendency
to dominance and emergence as a powerful and autocratic leader less likely to be effectively checked by
the legislature (Ellis & Samuels, 2009). The situation makes the choice of direct primaries procedure less
attractive as candidate nomination option. The Nigerian presidentialism is further compounded by the

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
“winner takes all” of its electoral system in which the FPTP is adopted. According to Ellis and Samuels
(2009), the ideal electoral system should provide the president a majority, but a fragile one that
necessitates negotiation.

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The Nigerian Electoral System
According to Sisk (2017), the electoral system is the formula by which votes are aggregated in a
democracy to determine the winners and losers of seats in an assembly or office holding.It is the
embodiment of the set of procedures, laws, rules, and regulations used to elect representatives and
leaders in a government structure. According to the 1999 Constitution and the electoral legal framework
(ELF) in place, Nigeria operates universal suffrage voter list for electing single-member-constituency
legislative representatives on a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system in which the candidate with the most
votes is declared the winner while combining this plurality requirement with geographical spread of
votes in one, two or three rounds of voting for all chief executive positions. The key components of the
electoral system are conceptually discussed to enhance our understanding of the environment for
operationalising the direct primaries option in the country.
The Electoral Process: This is the operative part of the electoral system relating to key actions,
undertakings, that are election-related and implemented to ensure the delivery of free, fair, credible,
and inclusive electoral outcomes in a democracy and carried out in interlinking cycles or phases
comprising pre-voting, voting, and post-voting (Sisk, 2017). Activities like registration of voters, review of
electoral districts, review of the electoral laws, registration of parties, nomination of candidates, voting
and results management processes, complaints and disputes resolution processes among others are key
components of the electoral process.
The holistic concept is directly related and connected with the existence of the Nigerian
democratic system of government which commenced from May 29, 1999, when the current 1999
Nigerian Constitution (as variously amended) came into force with the inauguration of a democratically
elected President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation, and subsequent
inauguration of the National Assembly.
The Electorate: This is the body of persons, usually a proportion of the population of a country
who are entitled to vote at elections (Sisk, 2017). The eligible voters who must be Nigerian citizens aged
18 years and above are registered by INEC and their names and other particulars maintained in the
National Register of Voters in accordance with section 9 of the Electoral Act, 2022. The total number of
registered voters who are eligible to vote in all federal, state, and local council elections conducted in
Nigerians of March 2023 according to INEC (2023) is 93,469,008 (https://www.inecnigeria.org/). The
electorate is usually a proportion of the total population of a country and Nigeria is currently
estimatedat 223.8 million according to the United Nations Population Fund (2023). With low level of
literacy and poor political education, the mass of the electorate remains inconsequential in the decision-
making process of the parties (Ndeche et al., 2023).
The Multi-Party System
Political party according to Duverger (1964; 2021) is a group of individuals with shared ideas on
how to acquire and exercise power in each state. It is the name given to a non-government organization
created on a voluntary basis to put candidates for public office and work to get them elected (Duverger,
1964; 2021). The principal legal framework for the existence, membership, organisation, and operation
of political parties in Nigeria is provided by sections 221 – 228 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as
amended). Section 222 of the Constitution provides that no association by whatever name called shall
function as a party, unless -
(a) the names and addresses of its national officers are registered with the Independent
National Electoral Commission;
(b) the membership of the association is open to every citizen of Nigeria irrespective of
his place of origin, circumstance of birth, sex, religion, or ethnic grouping;
(c) a copy of its constitution is registered in the principal office of the Independent
National Electoral Commission in such form as may be prescribed by the Independent
National Electoral Commission;

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
(d) any alteration in its registered constitution is also registered in the principal office of
the Independent National Electoral Commission within thirty days of the making of such
alteration;
(e) the name of the association, its symbol or logo does not contain any ethnic or
religious connotation or give the appearance that the activities of the association are
confined to a part only of the geographical area of Nigeria; and
(f) the headquarters of the association is situated in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Section 152 of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) defines a political party to include any
association of persons whose activities include support of a candidate for election under the Act and
registered by the INEC. Nigeria operates a multiparty system with the total number of registered
political parties as of August 2023 being 19 while the total claimed membership of all the parties has not
been made known as at this study.
Sisk (2017) state that in accordance with Duverger’s law (1951) the choice of electoral system
has strong implications for the system of political parties that evolves in a country. Duverger (1964;
2021) maintain that there is a causal relationship between electoral system features and party systems
and operations and this evidential in plurality voting (also referred to FTPT), in which the winner of the
seat is determined purely by the candidate with the most votes.
The multiple Nigerian political parties since their early days have tended to be elite based,
lacking programmatic ideological orientation, and tending to hegemonistic (Sklar, 1963, 2019; Kurfi,
2013; Ibeanu et al., 2022). According to Bekenova (2022) for the dominant elite parties to gain and
retain the support of majority of the voters, they will choose and retain the restrictive rules of selection
of electoral candidates that accord with the FPTP system.
The Electoral Legal Framework (ELF): The body of laws, rules, and regulations that govern the
conduct of elections in a country. The Nigerian ELF includes the international treaty law instruments
such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1966;African Charter on
Democracy, Elections, and Governance (ACDEG) 2007that are domesticated in the municipal laws,
applicable electoral provisions of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended), the substantive electoral
law – The Electoral Act 2022 (as amended), case laws from judicial decisions on electoral matters,
Regulations, Guidelines and Manuals for the conduct of elections, voter registration, political parties and
similar subsidiary instruments made by INEC pursuant to its powers. It is also expanded to include the
constitutions and guidelines of the political parties registered with INEC. The ELF regulates the conduct
of primaries among other interconnected processes.
The Electoral Management Body (EMB) Design: The EMB is an administrative body set up and
charged with the legal responsibility to organize, undertake, and supervise the key elements essential
for the conduct of elections. Nigeria has 37constitutionally established independent EMBs made up the
federal EMB known as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and a State Independent
Electoral Commission (SIEC) established for each of the 36 states of the federation by S. 153 and S. 197
of the 19999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended)respectively.
INEC has the statutory powers to register voters; register, deregister and monitor operations of
parties; periodically review and redistrict electoral boundaries; undertake voter and civic education;
conduct federal and state elections and elections to the Area Councils of Abuja; conduct referendum as
may be required under the law or constitution; and prosecute electoral offenders. INEC and SIECs (the
latter to a limited local extent) are the key regulators of the electoral process and party primaries must
be monitored by INEC to be valid according to section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022 (as
amended).INEC conducts and supervises election of President, National Assembly, Governor of a State,
House of Assembly of a State, Chairman of Area Council, and Councilors of Area Councils of the Federal
Capital Territory, Abuja. The SIECs conduct the elections of Chairmen and Councilors of local

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
government councils of the respective states and have a coordinating body known as Forum of State
Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria (FOSIECON).
According to Oduntan (2023), the EMBs must administer elections in a way that is effective and
efficient, free of partisanship, favoritism, bribery, and corruption, and that guarantees a free and fair
election. Only this can preserve democracy in Nigeria and avert a military coup.
The Electoral Dispute Resolution (EDR) System: This refers to the procedure for processing and
disposing of election-related complaints and disputes. It may include investigation and prosecution of
suspected breaches of the electoral law as is the case with the Nigerian ELF. An electoral alternative
dispute resolution (EADR) is being mainstreamed into the EDR component of the electoral justice system
(EJS) of many jurisdictions including Nigeria (Ndeche et al. 2023). In Nigeria, the judiciary is the
constitutional body established for resolving electoral disputes with the pre-election challenges
addressed by the Federal High Courts while election outcome challenges are filed before the
appropriate election petition tribunals for determination. The determination of pre-election matters and
election petition matters are time-bound and must accord with section 285 of the 1999 Nigerian
Constitution (as amended). The electoral criminal breaches are triable in a Magistrate Court or High
Court of the state or the FCT where the offence was committed as provided by section 145 of the
Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).
The Direct Party Primaries Procedure: These are internal elections at which aspirants who will
become the candidates for elective offices at an upcoming election are chosen by the direct vote of
political party members instead of by delegates at a convention or congress for that purpose. This is a
members-only intraparty competitive procedure provided in the Nigerian legal framework. It is not
obligatory on the parties. The foundational principle of political equality of citizens as embodied in the
electoral principle gives a good perspective for adopting the direct primaries option. White and Kerbel
(2022) maintain that sovereignty of primary voters should drive the consideration of primaries option.
The concept and practice of the direct primaries procedure for the selection of candidates of
political parties have become dominant in countries that practice multi-party democracy such as
obtained in the presidential system of government in Nigeria. According to Sandri and Seddone (2015),
and Reynolds (2018), the idea of primary elections as a candidate selection method in modern
deliberative democracy originated in the United States and is traceable to the first primaries organised
in Crawford County, Pennsylvania in 1842.
The introduction of a legislative framework for selecting electoral candidates through primaries
was first made in the Electoral Act of 2010 but the internal specific procedure to adopt was left to the
political parties. Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides for the parties to adopt any of three
procedures of selecting electoral candidates which are the direct primaries, indirect primaries, or
consensus candidate.
Accordingly, section 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended) makes it mandatory for a
political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections to hold primaries for aspirants to all elective
positions which shall be monitored by INEC. The legal requirement for a party adopting the direct
primaries procedure under section 84(4) of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) is that it shall ensure
that all aspirants are given equal opportunity of being voted for by members of the party. The section
further provides that in the case of direct presidential primaries, all registered members of the party
shall vote for aspirants of their choice at a designated centre at eachward of the Federation and the
candidate with the highest number of votes at the designated centres shall be ratified at Special
National Convention for that purpose. Where the prescribed direct primaries procedure is adopted in
respect of Gubernatorial, Senatorial, Federal and State Constituencies, the same requirement of all
registered members voting for aspirants of their choice at a designated centre at each ward an
appropriate level Special Congress held to ratify the candidate with the highest number of votes at
designated centres.

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
The Electoral Act makes it mandatory in Section 29 that the list of the candidates submitted to
INEC that the party proposes to sponsor at the elections must have emerged from valid primaries
conducted by the political party as stated. Section 84(13) of the Act provides that where a political party
fails to comply with the provisions of this Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate for election
shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue.
Udu and Eseni (2022) assert that the law as now enacted in the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended)
is the current legal basis for the concept and practice of the direct primary election method in the
Nigerian electoral process. There is no special legal provision for the selection of presidential candidates
other than what was prescribed in Section 84 (4) of the 2022 Act. The decision as to which method to
adopt is at the discretion of the party leadership. According to INEC (2020a), only one political party
adopted the direct primaries procedure for its presidential candidate nomination in 2018 which in this
case was the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) and in which also the incumbent President was the
sole candidate.
The United States’ presidential system of government after which the Nigerian presidentialism
was modelled has achieved long-lasting balance and stability in its duopoly of the Democratic and
Republican parties due largely in part to the impact of the direct presidential primaries procedure for
the nomination of candidates (Jeremias, 2021; Lawrence et al., 2013).
While the direct primaries procedure is one of three options, section 84(6) of the Electoral Act
2022 (as amended) provides that in the case of a Councillorship election, the procedure for the
nomination of the candidate shall be by direct primaries in the ward, and the name of the candidate
with the highest number of votes cast shall be submitted to the Commission as the candidate of the
party. This it is argued is testament to the fact that the direct primaries procedure is indicated in
grassroot electoral participatory democracy in the country and can be significantly scaled up further.
Theoretical Underpinning
Democratic Theory (DT): To understand democracy, we need a democratic theory. According to
Dean et al. (2019) democratic theory is applicable in the policy sciences as well as in relation to
workplace management, and the family, and indeed any place that humans relate to one another. Dean
et al. (2019) repudiates the argument that there is no democratic theory and submits that only
democratic theories which show the diversity of approaches to answering the question of “why
democracy” and its “essential rights” feature. Contemporary democratic theorists according to Dean et
al. (2019) focus beyond legislative politics, elections, political parties, and encompass other sites of
social relations, from human rights, family, workplace, public administration, and social media.
According to Laurence (2019) the democratic theory is important for answering the questions about
who constitutes the people and what obligations individuals have in a democracy.
Laurence (2019) further states that the democratic theory also answers the questions as to what
values are most important for a democracy; which ones make it desirable or undesirable as a form of
government; how democratic rule is to be organized and exercised, and what institutions should be
used and how. The theory explains the development of institutions of a variety of democratic designs
that serve as justice maker, the rules keeper, the rights protector, the quality-of-life raiser, the
peacemaker, the redistributor, the responsive one, or all of these ideals (Dean et al., 2019). Its broad
application to the study of democracy recommends it as the suitable theoretical framework for this
paper.
According to Dean et al. (2019), there is an ideological conflict among democratic theorists over
how to define the best type of democracy, which is centred on a specific type of practice. In conflicts
between representative democracy and direct democracy, participatory democracy and elitist
democracy, and agonist democracy and deliberative democracy, the ideological struggle is visible,
according to Dean et al. (2019). Democratic theorists and scholars hold that inclusive and participatory
practices such as may be expressed by direct primaries procedure in selecting electoral candidates offer

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
the strongest opposition to antidemocracy and seek nonviolent resolution of problems (Okpako &
Okolo, 2020).
Elite Theory: This theory explains the behaviour and actions of the elite in the party and in
government. According to Mariotti (2020), the elite theory holds that all forms of government are
essentially oligarchies in which a small group use different values and principles to justify their hold on
power and influence while manipulating the governed. The elites according to the classical elite
theorists (Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, and Roberto Michels) hold that society is divided into two
classes: a higher stratum, the elites, who are further divided into governing elites and non-governing
elite, and a lower stratum, the non-elite. While the elites emphasise individual interests through
dominance of power and privileges, the non-elite are poorly organised, docile, and have little influence
over democratic election institutions like political parties. Michels (2001) argues that in modern party
life what obtains is a tendency to aristocracy in a democratic form (aristocratic democracy), and or
democracy with an aristocratic content (democratic aristocracy).
The elite has established a stranglehold on the Nigerian political parties through a culture of
“godfatherism” in which they mobilise and syndicate resources to fund aspirants from their nomination
to election with adverse effect on quality of leadership and governance (Yahaya & Abba, 2021; Adekeye,
2017; Ikedinma, 2021).
The elite maintains hegemonistic control over party structures and candidate selection
processes and often resort to primordial ethnic, regional, and religious sentiments to manipulate
electoral choices and outcomes hence their preference for indirect delegate procedure (Ezeajughi, 2021;
Iyekekpolo, 2020). Ibeanu et al. (2022) argue that informal influences by the elite have regularly
interplayed formal government and political decision-making in Nigeria.
This paper adopts both theoretical frameworks as relevant to explaining and understanding the
perspective on the direct primaries procedure. While the democratic theory presents us with the
persuasive ideal situation and justification for the direct primaries procedure, the elite theory underpins
the reality of party democracy and governance in our representative democracy model.
METHODOLOGY
This paper uses documentary research methodology to systematically investigate the political
phenomenon and analyse the content of document or records for patterns, themes, and scholarly
insights.Wills (2022) states that the main goal of documentary research is to identify gaps in scientific
knowledge as well as to interpret and direct methodologies. It posits a research question, sets study
objectives, creates a theoretical and methodological framework, analyses the data, interprets it,
discusses the results, and draws conclusions about the study.
Document analysis is a useful study technique that has been applied for many years, according
to Morgan (2022).This approach involves assessing different kinds of pre-existing textual data that can
be found in materials including books, newspaper publications, academic journal articles, and
institutional reports. Utilising pre-existing textual material is also advantageous because it is inexpensive
and simple to use for this paper.
This approach meets our research objective of gathering information for exploring and clarifying
interrelated concepts and familiarizing the researcher and audience with a better understanding of the
problem. It employs literature research and other techniques for collecting and analysing data of the
social phenomenon under investigation. Through exploration, the researcher can develop concepts
more clearly in descriptive and explanatory terms, examine cause-and-effect relationships, and explore
questions without making definitive conclusions.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION
In accordance with the electoral legal framework, political associations that are based on ethnic,
sectional, religious, sectarian, or other primordial characterisations are prohibited from recognition,

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
operation and registration as a party and could equally be de-registered on that account. The
association once registered as a political party, becomes a body corporate under section 77 of the
Electoral Act 2022 and thus subject to regulatory compliance including mandatory maintenance of its
register of members in both hard and soft copy which shall be made available to INEC not later than 30
days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses, or convention. Notwithstanding these
regulatory provisions, parties have not been effectively protected from divisive electoral attitudes and
behaviours as well as prebendal politics.
Parties play determinative multifunctional roles as important institutions that link civil society to
democratic governance (Ibeanu, 2013; Plattner, 2020, 2015; Lim, 2023). Political parties are
indispensable to the operation of representative democracy (Dalton et al., 2011). While articulation
remains the traditional responsibility of interest groups, the aggregation of wide coalitions of various
political interests in society and translating them into party choices and policy agenda of governance
when elected to office remains a key function of the political party (Lim, 2023; Dalton et al., 2011).
Political parties that are in opposition provide democratic process watchdog roles and increase the
accountability of elected officials by evaluating and criticising government actions (Coleman & Rosberg,
2023).
Parties, according to Dalton et al. (2011), identify and develop potential political leaders and
candidates for political office, socialising them to democratic governance norms and principles and so
promoting long-term political stability. Political parties, according to Siddiqi (2022), inculcate political
beliefs and values into the public sphere, which influences how people in society adopt attitudes and
orientations toward the political system. This appraisal of political culture is done by citizens. In
democratic governments, political culture is primarily transmitted to the public realm through the
influence of political parties. Parties undertake political socialisation and political education through
mobilisation for election support and votes, information and facilitating political communication to
citizens (White & Webb, 2007).
Norris (2004) asserts that only political parties can assemble demands that enable compromise
among various groups, to present the electorate with an alternative policy proposal program intended
to meet these demands, to sponsor candidates for elective offices, and, if elected, to pass legislation and
oversee the implementation of public policies. Party is the foundation of political leadership (Michels,
2001). The political recruitment and governance functions of parties provide the pathway to the
formation of the legislative and executive branches of government, party dominance in government
appointments, and collective political accountability for the success or failure of their decisions in power
(Lim, 2023). The capacity to effectively do so depends on the regulatory environment which includes the
external regulatory framework for party competition and the internal party rules that promote cohesion
and harmony.
Parties need votes to survive (Dalton et al., 2011). Party membership and loyalty according to
Dalton et al. (2011) are on the decline because of internal discohesion and disharmony and the
perception that parties do not adequately represent members’ views in the governing process.
According to section 225A of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended), INEC has power to deregister
any political party on the grounds of breach of any of the requirements for registration and for poor
performance at elections. It states specifically that a party is liable for deregistration if it fails to win at
least 25 percent of the votes cast in one state during a presidential election, one local government of
the state during a state's governorship election, or at least one ward during a chairmanship election, one
seat during a National or State House of Assembly election, or one seat during a councillorship election.
Parties in nascent democracies like Nigeria are constantly challenged by elite dominance and the
rise of “non-party actors” according to Dalton et al. (2011). The growing presence of many political
associations that are at best “microparties”, better resourced national and transnational social
movements, and the recent clamour for independent candidates in the Nigerian electoral process are

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
empirical proofs of this party challenge. Party membership and sponsorship are mandatory for
candidate selection in Nigeria as provided by section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) which
prescribed the direct, indirect, and consensus procedures for nomination process.
The Nigerian political system and its party and electoral processes are elite dominant. The
political parties since2010 have shown a preference for the indirect primaries procedure for selecting
candidates for public elective offices because it accords and aligns with the whole concept of
representative democracy where governance is effected through elected representatives of the people
in the legislature and the chief executive arms.
While the direct primaries procedure in which the mass of party members is involved in the
decision-making process of choosing party leaders and public elective candidates accords with the
Democratic Theory, it is not a popular option because there is always an inevitable leadership group that
is small but powerful enough to rule over the majority. This is the paradox of the Elite theory and the
practice of liberal democracy. The political parties' founding fathers in Nigeria did not favour the idea
of participatory democracy. They didn't believe the general populace could make wise political choices
according to Sklar (1963, 2019). In a huge, complicated community, it would also be too laborious for
everyone to offer their viewpoint on every topic according to anti-direct primaries thoughts.
The operative electoral law has mandated the use of the direct primaries procedure in the
selection of councillorship candidates in the 62 wards of the six Area Councils of the FCT, Abuja and by
extension, to the remaining 8,747 electoral wards (Registration Areas) in the 36 states of the federation.
Table 1: Summary of Elections conducted by INEC
Executive Posts
No.
Legislative Seats
No.
President
1
Senate
109
House of Representatives
360
Governor
36
House of Assembly
993
Chairman (Area Council)
6
Councillors (Area Council Wards)
62
Total
43
Total
1,524
Source: INEC Strategic Plan 2022-2026
Table 2: Summary of Elections conducted by SIECs
Executive Post
No.
Legislative Seats
No.
Chairman (Local Government
Council)
768
Councillors (Local Government Electoral
Wards)
8,747
Source: Author’s Field Data from FOSIECON
With the bottom-up organic approach to direct electoral candidate selection process from the
wards, it can be argued that the next stage of the progressive improvement is the make it obligatory for
political parties to select state houses of assembly candidates using direct primaries procedure. There
are presently 993 state constituencies across the 36 states of the federation (INEC, 2020a).
The direct primaries procedure has reportedly recorded fewer intraparty disputes and pre-
election challenges according to INEC (2020b).Direct party primaries reduce intra-party conflicts and
exclusion of certain segments of the party and by promoting inclusion contribute to openly resolving
conflicts associated with electoral candidates’ selection processes (Babalola & Abba, 2017; Nnaji, 2021;
Nnamani, 2018; Obianyo & Alumona, 2022).
Fig. 1: Structure of Elective Legislative Positions and Primaries Procedures in Nigeria

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
Source: Author’s adaptation from INEC Strategic Plan 2022-2026 (www.inecnigeria.org).
The foregoing Fig. 1 from analysis of the electoral legal framework displays all the elective
legislative seats in the Nigerian electoral process for which candidates are nominated by their political
parties using either the direct, indirect or consensus procedures as provided in the Electoral Act 2022.
It is our finding that by the provisions of paragraph 11 of Part II of the Second Schedule to the
1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) the National Assembly has power to make overriding electoral
law for the Federation which includes the procedure regulating elections to a local government council.
Section 150 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended), provides that the procedure regulating elections
conducted by INEC to the Area Councils of the FCT shall be the same and apply with equal force as the
procedure regulating elections conducted to Local Government Areas by any State Independent
Electoral Commission (SIEC).
The Case for Adopting the Direct Primaries Procedure
The 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) stated in Section 14 that Nigeria shall be a state
based on the principles of democracy and social justice and that sovereignty belongs to the Nigerian
people from whom Government derives all its powers and authority. The National Assembly passed the
Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 which provided for the direct primaries procedure for nominating
candidates for all public elective positions. The passage was predicated on the unsatisfactory experience
of the lawmakers and several stakeholders with the use of indirect primary procedure by most of the
political parties. According to Kurfi (2013) delegate-based primary elections should be prohibited and
outlawed in Nigeria due its proclivity to subverting popular choices of electoral candidates and excluding
the mass of the party members from participating in the selection process.
The case for the direct primary mode of selecting all electoral candidates particularly is hinged
essentially on the need to dilute elite influence and power and enhance mass participation of party
members in the decision-making process of choosing the flagbearers. According to Bakare (2021) the
National Assembly through Senator Kabiru Gaya (Senate INEC Committee Chair) and Representative
Benson (Chairman of the House Committee on Defence) stated that the direct primaries will end money
bags dominance in political parties as well as provide the only way to place deserving individuals in

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
elective posts as “the most accessible form of democracy for everyone”. In further defence of their
decision to use direct primaries, the National Assembly leaders averred that state governors as the elite
leaders have their preferred delegates to choose the next legislator, or that someone with money who is
not even a member of the party but who has the funds to run for office can buy delegates for himself or
for some aspirant.
The need to promote political accountability and popular choice in the selection process limit
vote buying and other corruptive issues is best managed by the direct primary method. According to
Aborishade (2022), paraphrasing Ekweremadu (Former Deputy President of Senate), "if we truly want to
protect and strengthen our democracy and find leaders that will actually serve the collective interest,
we need to restrict political parties to direct primaries as the only way of nominating candidates."
Majority of the mainstream media, social media, and civic organisations that participated in the public
hearing of the legislative process supported the mandatory direct primaries provision of the Bill as a way
of moving the country away from the grip of moneybags. The Vanguard (2022) maintains that direct
primaries allow party members the right to choose who will represent them in open elections that are
contested by all registered political parties. It compels elected officials, particularly those in charge of
political parties at all levels, to consider their constituents' desires and goals rather than disregard them
out of hand in deference to incumbent leaders and political godfathers.
In the run up to the 2023 elections, Vanguard (2022) stated that it is more important than ever
to look for leaders who put the needs of their constituents first. PLAC (2021a) urged that the president
should assent to the Electoral Bill 2021 transmitted to him by the National Assembly in which Clause 87
on mandatory direct primaries was the only mode for selecting electoral candidates. PLAC (2021a) state
that the Bill which is the product of nearly three years of work went through the entire gamut of
legislative process including: call for submission of memoranda, technical review, retreats, and
deliberations. It also had input from the INEC, civil society organisations and participation by legal draft
staff of the Federal Ministry of Justice. PLAC (2021a) states that those in opposition to the direct mode
of selection of candidates as passed by the Committees especially some Governors had the opportunity
to make their input during the legislative process especially during the call for memoranda and the
public hearing but chose not to do so. While PLAC (2021b) acknowledges that the mode of conduct of
political party primaries as captured by the Bill has significant impact on grassroot participation in
politics, it nevertheless advocated for the legislators’ reconsideration of the President’s singular concern
with direct primaries only mode in rejecting assent to the Bill to speedily pass it into law.
The issue became a contest between private vested elite interest and public interest. Itodo
(2021) maintains that public interest should govern the requirement of legally mandating political
parties to nominate candidates through direct primaries and this could be best achieved through intense
citizen engagement in the process. According to Lipset (2000), new electoral democracies such as
Nigeria must institutionalise social mechanisms which enable the greatest number of people to have a
say in important choices through selecting candidates for political office, i.e., through political parties.
The concept and practice of the direct primaries procedure gives meaning to the principle of
equality of votes of all party members as envisaged by the law. The direct primaries procedure is simpler
and more democratic and inclusive than the indirect procedure going by the legal framework provided
under section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022.
The direct primaries procedure has tended to increased voter-decision making power in the
candidate nomination process according to Attama et al. (2022).The direct primaries procedure comes
with some stabilising benefits for the political system when party democracy is in issue as evidenced by
the 2018 APC direct primaries and the 2016 Republican Party convention in the United States.
Aborishade (2022), paraphrasing Ekweremadu, states that "if we truly want to protect and strengthen
our democracy and find leaders that will actually serve the collective interest, we need to restrict
political parties to direct primaries as the only way of nominating candidates." According to studies,

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
there is certainty of outcome that reflect the will of most of the party members in the nomination
process. Switzerland, a federal republic uses direct party primaries to select electoral candidates. With
its inherent transparency, direct primaries according to Kurfi (2013) will enhance electoral integrity and
conform to international best practices. Nigeria tends to two-party system from political experience and
the use of direct primaries may lead to the emergence of ideologically based, much more stable and a
balanced duopoly.
Direct presidential primaries for instance represent a practical expression of popular and
democratic political participation in the preliminary election process of the most important public
elective office in Nigeria (Asuquo, 2022; Adekeye, 2017).
Diluting elite dominance and control of party structures through inclusive direct democracy in
the selection of electoral candidates is adjudged the most significant benefit of the direct primaries’
procedure. According to Olamide (2021), the political executive is typically the head of the elite that is
mostly too responsible for the imposition of candidates with the zoning and rotational presidency
phenomenon that some political parties devised to promote harmony among the competing ethnic
groups in Nigeria. Coller and Cordero (2018) submit that the direct primaries procedure where adopted
make intra-party democracy more participative, involve a broad coalition of interests, improve the
image of the party, boost affiliation, and promote internal democratic legitimacy. The adoption of the
direct primary procedure according to Lawrence et al. (2013) serves as an example that changes to
electoral institutions need not entirely reflect the self-interest of elites. They argue that not all
significant changes to electoral institutions reflect the self-interest of the actors who typically control
the rules.
It is also the submission of some scholars that it will prove difficult if not impossible to
monetarily induce all the party members participating in a direct primaries procedure (Bassey et al.,
2023).Direct primaries procedure reduces judicialising party primaries through litigations and the
consequent associated costs (Ihembe & Isike, 2022). Direct primaries procedure will definitely reduce
corruption in the electoral process over time.
Coalition building opportunities are offered by the direct primaries procedure more than the
indirect procedure which is restrictive and not broadly encompassing of party members (Asuquo,
2022).It could be argued that in the light of the inadequacy of the indirect primaries procedure to
promote intraparty cohesion and harmony in a multiethnic, multireligious, and multilingual Nigerian
federation beginning in 2010 when the electoral legal framework first provided for it, then the
alternative is the direct procedure which could be made mandatory for the presidential candidates as is
the case in the United States presidentialism.
The Case against Adopting the Direct Primaries Procedure
The case against the mandatory direct primaries procedure from literature is reflective of the
divergence of elite interest in the process who fear that the cost will be astronomical while also
weakening central party control in favour of local ward chapters. According to TheCable (2021),
President Buhari declined to sign the Electoral Bill 2021 on the grounds that the political parties, INEC,
security agencies, and the economy would be severely impacted by the requirement for direct primaries
under the law, as well as by the absence of a valid way to identify party members and a reliable and
verifiable membership register.
The expense of holding primary elections by parties as well as the cost of INEC supervising such
elections will both rise significantly because of the direct primaries being held in all the 8,809 electoral
wards across the length and breadth of the country (TheCable, 2021). The president directed his views in
his letter to the legislators refusing assent to the Bill but did not attempt to seek the views of Nigerians
by reference to a referendum on the matter since political parties are creations of the constitution as
with the right to political participation. Ejiofo and Okocha (2022) submitted that the President sent the
Bill to both INEC and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) for their opinion but did not consult

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
the populace. According to Ifowodo (2021), quoting President Buhari, the president claims that using
mandatory direct primaries as the only procedure for political parties to select their candidates is "a
violation of the fundamental spirit of democracy, which is defined by freedom of choice;" and "being a
member of a political party is a voluntary exercise of the right to freedom of association guaranteed by
the Constitution." Ifowodo (2021) thus views legally mandated direct primaries as an overreach into the
party's internal affairs and an ineffective way to discourage moneybags from buying votes.
Apart from the cost of conducting the direct primaries, Ifowodo (2021), and Banire (2022) argue
that the mass of the party members may not vote qualitatively, and this could lead to poor choice of
candidates. According to Olokor (2022), the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the official pressure
group of the 18 registered political parties in Nigeria, had warned through its national chairman, Yabagi
Yusuf Sani that Nigeria does not yet have the political maturity or be sufficiently ripe for the direct
primary election model in the selection of flag bearers for political parties for the 2023 General Election,
despite the benefits that are allegedly associated with it. IPAC made the case that primaries are best left
up to the political parties' discretion and cannot be regulated by law.
Iroanusi (2022) citing Jega, a former Chair of INEC, argues that mandatory direct primaries
cannot be implemented because many political party members are not properly presently registered and
direct primaries processes and outcomes can be compromised in the absence of a reliable list of party
members. According to Okunfolami (2021), the one-man-one-vote system used in direct primaries,
which accords each vote equal electoral weight, constitutes a subtle type of injustice against the
financiers who will be displeased when they lose their investment in the selection process.
Ibrahim (2021) argues that because most parties lack reliable and verifiable membership
registers or legal means of identification, non-members can be induced to cast votes by rich candidates
to sway the results. Dike (2021) submits that while indirect primaries made delegates easy to buy by
governors, the same is not the case with direct primaries which will be too expensive for them, hence
the opposition by the governors. This is an important detail which will further violate the principle of free
choice and independence of the party. Official PDP described the mandatory direct primaries provision
as undemocratic, and this is understandable where the party elite can act contrary to the provisions of its
constitution and guidelines for candidate nomination. It is thus argued that obligating the method
negates the consensus-building dynamics of political participation in a multi-party democracy.

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
Fig. 2: Structure of Elective Executive Positions and Primaries Procedure in Nigeria.
Source: Author’s note from the Electoral Legal Framework provisions.
From the findings, there is no corresponding obligatory direct primaries procedure for the
nomination of the chairmen of local government councils as is the case with the councillors who
constitute the legislative branch of the government at that level. The operation of the presidential
system of government with its executive dominance and combined with the “winner takes all” FPTP
electoral system seems to be the explanation for the incongruence and the reason for the non-adoption
of the direct primaries procedure.
The total number of electable chief executives in the Nigerian presidentialism is 811as stated in
Fig. 2 above and if that number should include their running mates (Vice-President, Deputy-Governors,
and Vice-Chairmen of Councils) the figure will be 1,622. This figure pales into insignificance when
compared to the total number electable legislators which is 10,271 as in Fig.1 above. The councillorship
elections in the FCT according to INEC documented reports are the least acrimonious (INEC 2020a).
Inter-agency collaboration is not strong between federal and state electoral stakeholders
including the EMBs to address the resource challenge to organising and supervising direct primaries
nationwide using improved identity-driven membership registers currently not in place.
CONCLUSION
This paper established from document analysis that the direct primaries procedure is not the
popular choice among the parties in the selection of candidates to public elective offices due to the
dominant elite interest of both the party and governing executive. The latter prefer the indirect
procedure because the delegates are able to be influence by the incumbent government executive.
The key challenges to adopting the direct primaries procedure which from our document
analysis relate to the indicative cost of organising the exercise in each of the 8,809 wards of the
federation and the absence of credible register of party members who form the primary electorate can
be easily and creatively overcome.
The electoral system winner-takes-all makes intra and inter-party electoral contests extremely
commodified and reflects the influence of the elite together with the hegemonistic character of the elite
parties that they found. Such parties are neither mass appealing nor ideologically framed,

Journal of Research and Development Studies Vol. 7 No.1, July 2023
The present and well-thought obligatory direct primaries procedure at the councillorship level of
electoral representation could serve as the necessary future building block for a culture of high political
participation in the electoral process if candidates for elections to House of Assembly of the states in the
993 constituencies are similarly directly nominated.
Participatory democracy and inclusiveness in the electoral process is nevertheless enhanced by
the direct and more democratic procedure particularly with the opportunity it offers for marginalised
groups like women, youth, and people with disabilities in the political space.
Recommendations/Policy Suggestions
The grassroot democratisation of party members participation in the decision-making processes
of selecting candidates for public elective offices which has rightly begun with the direct primaries
procedure for councillorship candidates nationwide should be scaled up as part of the reforms of the
electoral process to elections to membership of the 36 State Houses of Assembly in the federation. The
incremental effort
With further electoral reforms, there could be strong prospects of adopting the direct primaries
procedure as obligatory for the nomination of all legislative candidates into the National Assembly made
up of 109 Senatorial Districts and 360 Federal Constituencies in the country.
It is our recommendation that by collaborating with SIECs who organise the lowest level
elections at the wards, INEC can leverage that arrangement to substantially reduce the cost and
resources for monitoring ward based direct primaries.
It is suggested that the Register of party members and Membership cards should be biometric
driven and photo-based just like the register of voters and the voter cards are. In addition, the National
Identity Number of every party member should be the unique identifier of membership and other
entitlements, and this should be publicly viewable. This will substantially address the voter fraud
associated with unidentified voters at venues of primaries.
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