A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Niger State, Jonathan Vatsa, has strongly criticised the just concluded National Assembly primaries of the party, describing the exercise as a “facade” and a “mockery of democracy,” warning that the party risks internal collapse if urgent reforms are not undertaken.
Vatsa, a former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism in Niger State and pioneer Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, made the remarks in Minna on Wednesday while reacting to the outcome of the senatorial and House of Representatives primaries held across the state and other parts of the country.
He said the exercise left behind a trail of disappointment, allegations and credibility concerns, insisting that the ruling party had failed to learn from past political mistakes that continue to affect governance and internal democracy in Nigeria.
“What transpired during the just concluded National Assembly primaries can best be described as what the late Afrobeat legend, Fela, would call a ‘demonstration of craze’,” Vatsa declared.
According to him, reports of massive financial inducement allegedly dominated the process, with claims that some aspirants spent as much as ₦150 million in pursuit of party tickets through what he described as a deeply flawed and manipulated system.
He alleged that despite the heavy financial and political investments made by aspirants, many were left disappointed as the process allegedly failed to reflect fairness, transparency, or genuine democratic competition.
“The irony is unavoidable because many of the aspirants now lamenting the outcome were among those who maintained silence when some of us raised serious concerns over exclusion, manipulation and political neglect,” he said.
Vatsa further lamented that the APC, which came to power in 2015 on the promise of transparency and anti-corruption, had now deviated from its founding principles. All what we campaigned against in 2015 that earned us the confidence of Nigerians, we are now doing worse than that, and this is quite unfortunate.”
“As a pioneer member of this party, I never envisaged this level of manipulation that has characterised the primaries so far. It is unacceptable,” the party chieftain added.
He warned that failure to urgently reconcile aggrieved members and restore confidence in the party’s internal processes could lead to widespread disaffection and anti-party activities ahead of the general elections.
Vatsa also urged the party leadership to acknowledge flaws in its internal democracy, drawing a parallel with the late former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who admitted that the system that brought him to power was faulty, insisting that the APC must confront its internal challenges honestly in order to regain public trust.