Political parties may select candidates, it’s the people that select governments, By Akeem Bello
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.
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.
It is another demonstration that the Nigerian voter can separate party from candidate, federal politics from state politics and elite preference from personal political judgement.
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