It is arguably believed that for someone to win the post of the Governor of his state, then the person is popular because an unpopular person cannot achieve that......READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
In fact, the above view has been proved true more often than not as most first term Governors have also gone ahead to win second terms. Many of them did not even stop at winning second term, they went ahead to produce their successors and still won Senate seats for themselves. This happened in many States in 2015 and 2019 general elections.
In view of the above, why then are these popular Governors opposing the bill on direct primary passed by the Senate? Since they are popular and emerged Governors, they should have nothing to fear. Some of those Governors opposing the bill such as Governor Nyeson Wike of Rivers State defied all odds and oppositions to win second term. That speaks volume about Wike’s popularity in his state. Why them is Wike also opposing the bill or what is he afraid of?
It would be recalled that some Governors have started the move against the bill. An earlier report by The Punch revealed that Some APC Governors even went ahead to lobby some influential federal government officials to persuade President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign the bill into law when it gets to him. Eventually, the bill has been sent to Buhari and he is set to take a decision of either to sign or reject it.
Nevertheless, the Governors did not state what they are afraid of concerning the direct primary mode. True, they may have their way easily when it comes to deciding who gets any ticket through indirect primary. But, as leaders of their various states and leaders of their parties in their states by the virtue of their offices as Governors, they can always adapt and still convince party leaders and members to support their decisions. As pointed out earlier, these Governors are arguably popular in their various states.
Now, for those of them who may think that they are not very popular to convince party members and leaders in their states to back their decisions, it is high time they went back to the things that matter to do things right in their states to have the backing of both party members and leaders. Some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have kicked against the opposition to the bill by Governors tagging it unpopular and narrow.
Apart from the CSOs, the two chambers of the National Assembly massively backed the bill and voted in support of it irrespective of their party affiliations. Stakeholders and many Nigerians strongly support the bill because they believe that it will deepen Nigeria democracy by guaranteeing popular participation by the people who will decide the people that will represent them by themselves. Why are some Governors against it and what are they afraid of?
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