Alhaji Abubakar Sadique, a lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, has called on political parties to treat every aspirant equally and fairly, to strengthen their political bases.
The don yesterday said that the PDP and APC in particular, should avoid past mistakes.
According to him, the PDP in Bauchi State can face the same mistakes it encountered in 2007 unless it removes the issue of agitation for power shift to the northern part of the state.
He said the agitation could be detrimental because it had started attracting reactions from members of the party in the central zone of the state.
He said the zone had never been given the opportunity to produce a governor or deputy governor.
“If PDP does not handle the issue carefully by conducting free and fair primaries, the tendency is that somebody who is not popularly accepted may emerge as its candidate.
“As a result, some members from other zones may also feel aggrieved and indulge in anti-party activities that can give another party the chance to win election.
“We have witnessed this in 2007 as it affected the ANPP,” he said.
On the APC, Sadique said the party was also about to repeat the mistakes of defunct CPC in 2011 when many contending aspirants fought over the party’s ticket.
According to him, two groups have already emerged in the state.
The groups need to come together and respect the party’s supremacy otherwise the tendency is that the party will go to polls again without being prepared to face a common ground.
He said for the APC to address the issue, the National Headquarters must act to bring sanity and discipline in the party, especially in the state, by bringing all contending groups together.
The PDP won in 2007 after the failure of the ANPP to present an acceptable candidate while the CPC, in 2011, had many contending aspirants.(NAN)