The All Progressives Congress (APC) lost the Osun governorship election long before the first ballot was cast. In my assessment, it lost the election substantially on the day it decided how its candidate would emerge. This is not to suggest that the mode of candidate selection mechanically determines the outcome of a general election. Elections are far more complicated than that. My argument, based on my experience as a teacher of politics and my continuing engagement with electoral politics, political parties and democratic governance, is that the manner in which APC produced its candidate created an avoidable structural weakness which the party struggled to overcome until election day. The Osun election should therefore be understood not merely as a contest between Ademola Adeleke and Bola Oyebamiji, but as an important political lesson about intra-party democracy, elite bargaining, candidate legitimacy, electoral accountability and the growing independence of the Nigerian voter.
Political parties may select candidates, it’s the people that select governments, By Akeem Bello
