Melaye: The Botched Recall Process And 2019 General Elections – The Salient Issues

ADAMU HUSSAIN ZURU

The recall process against senator Dino Melaye representing kogi west senitorial district might have come to an abrupt end. But this unsuccessful process has left in it’s trail a number of thought provoking issues that we need to ponder over ahead of the 2019 general elections. The issues include but not limited to:

*VOTER APATHY: The lukewarm attitude of electorates evidenced in the recall process is a serious cause for concern. The turn out of voters for the exercise was abysmally low. This bring to the fore the need for proper voter’s education and sensation of electoral process.

*-PAROCHIAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE VOTING PROCESS: This issue could also be discerned from the botched recall process. Many electorates are so parochiallm they believed that participation in democracy begins and ends with casting of votes during election and when that is achieved, their participation ends there.

*ELECTORATES CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO ELECT AND CHECK THEIR REPRESENTATIVES: The outcome of the recent recall process has shown that the electorates are oblivious of their powers as provided in the constitution to recall a leader/representative who has under represented them at various levels. This power of the electorate could be used to check the excesses of the representative but a situation where the electorates are unaware of such rights it leaves their representatives a free will to misrepresent them.

*MENDING FENCES AHEAD OF THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTION : Of course , no society is crises free. As the road to 2019 general election gets shorter by day, there is every need to urgently begin reconciliatory processes so that aggrieved party faithfuls are reconciled. The aftermath of the recall process actually indicated that all is not well within the APC as a  party. The party divisive politics within the rank and file of the party members has been attributed to be the root cause of the recall process. Hence, reconciling aggrieved party members before the 2019 general election should be of paramount importance to the party.

Adamu Hussain Zuru, Publicity Secretary, APC National Youth Caucus,  Kogi State

*-ESTABLISHING A FORMIDABLE STRUCTURE AHEAD OF THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTION:
The fact that 2019 general election is in sight is not questionable. It is imperative to note that a formidable structure is the strength that aids electoral success not just mere calculations, say 2+2=4
Therefore putting in place a structure that would market the party and it’s candidate is a much needed tonic at this period. The structure should be made up of people who are genuinely interested in the party’s success, people who are ready to walk the talk, people who are ready to fire at all cylinders to ensure that the party emerges victorious at the 2019 general election. The recall process and its outcome in fact is a panacea for the party stakeholders to have a recheck in their immediate structure or cabinet to avoid same game same song in 2019 general election.
In all , the recall process might have been history by now but the issues thrown up are very pertinent and should be squarely addressed so that the road to 2019 general elections would be smooth for the party,APC.

ADAMU HUSSAIN ZURU is the Publicity Secretary, APC National Youth Caucus, Kogi State