By John Oghojafor
A frontline aspirant to the House of Representatives seat for the Ethiope Federal Constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming election, Olorogun Dr. Wilson Omene, has advocated the conduct of the party’s primary by way of direct casting of votes by card carrying members of the party.
Omene who stated this shortly after the consultation visit of one of the governorship aspirants, Hon. Victor Ochei on the leader of the party, Olorogun O’tega Emerhors in Evwreni on Sunday, 23rd September, 2018, stated that the result of a well-conducted direct primary will always indicate the pattern which the general election will go.
According to Omene, direct primary, by its very practice, is just the same thing as asking the electorate to voluntarily express will and give their mandate to whoever aspirant they feel will best represent them even in the general election.
He said: “I tell you something, if we are serious as a people, then this movement (Mainstream Delta APC) must be listened to. Go out there and give power to the people. It is time to remove power from the cabals. The real power should remain in the hands of the people whom the leaders are leading. You cannot say you are an aspirant and you don’t have followers. The power lies in the hands of the electorate.
“The leaders are only expected to educate the electorate on the power of their membership cards and voters’ cards. The leader is to guide them on non-violence attitude during elections and the power that is in their hands to change things. So, talking about the distinction between direct primary and indirect primary, indirect primary is still the old corrupt pattern of manipulating the electorate and removing the power to choose from them.
“So, it must be glaring to the national chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, that if we must be respected as a party by Nigerians, then we must throw the power back at them. He has done it in Osun State. You look at the result, popular votes. You see how tiny the difference is. So, direct primary is the answer to the yearnings of the electorate. And that is why I would stand by this group 24/7 that we need direct primary for Deltans so that they can benefit from it.
“Let me tell you something, when you muster thousands and thousands of party members to vote for you in a direct primary, then you know very well what the end result will be in the general election. This is because when you see battalion of people vote for you in a direct primary, then you know that they will also vote for you in the general election. But when you have pockets of persons who have been handpicked by leaders as delegates to vote in an indirect election, it does not show the pattern of votes to expect in the general election. So, we are saying that we must go for direct primary in Delta State.”
Omene disclosed that he was very close to the electorate, adding that most aspirants in the party still believe in shortchanging the electorate by advocating for indirect primary. “I’m a champion of direct primary, I’m a champion of the people to say power must be in hands of the people to choose me. I live in the village with them, I don’t live in Abuja. Having been a local government chairman before, I know the pains of the people. So, I know their problems and how to solve them. They know I’m not a money bag and I don’t have money to throw around. But they also know that they have the mandate to choose who they want to represent them and it is that power they are eager to exercise”, Omene concluded.
