2019: APC conducts governorship primaries in 27 states

The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday conducted state wide primaries to choose its governorship candidates in 27 states.

This will bring a verdict for hundreds of political giants who have been lobbying to get the party’s priced ticket to be candidates in the 2019 governorship election, which is part of the general election scheduled for February.

The widespread division among aspirants in several states over issues ranging from zoning to potential imposition of candidates by some so-called godfathers, the party at the national level decided to adopt a flexible mode in conducting its primaries this year.

The national chairman of the APC speaking recently on the adoption of the ‘direct and indirect’ primary election mode said: “The adoption of direct and indirect primaries was the immediate solution the party could come up with,

although the party acknowledged that its approach may not be perfect, the two options would go a long way in mitigating post-primaries crises that often characterize Nigerian elections.

“The APC looked into existing disagreements at each of the 37 state chapters including the FCT and recommended either direct or indirect method, depending on which has a better likelihood of keeping members united after primaries”.

The direct mode means individuals who have APC membership card would go to the primaries ground and elect who they want to be the party’s candidate.

This exercise is seen as more transparent and inclusive because it gives members a say on who should be their party’s choice; while the indirect exercise, some individuals who have attained the position of delegates in party structure would choose the candidate.

This method has been widely criticized for being too monetized over the years. Delegates are known to collect huge amount of cash from aspirants, sometimes at convention grounds, to elect a candidate, with the highest bidder emerging victorious.

While direct primaries could be considered cumbersome and time-consuming, the method is less prone to manipulation than indirect primaries, with all members sharing responsibility in the quality of leadership of whoever gets the party’s ticket.

As 27 states are holding its governorship primaries, the remaining nine states including Bayelsa, Edo, Kogi, Osun, Anambra, Ekiti and Ondo, whose governorship seats are not up for contest in the upcoming general elections,

with Lagos and Imo, whose primaries were postponed on Saturday as announced by the party National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on reason of ‘Logistics’.

Recall that there has been an alleged discrepancy between the party leaders, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu with the Lagos State serving Governor, Ambode

while in Imo State, there is another disagreement between the Serving Governor, Rochas Okorocha who wanted his son in-law, Uche Nwosu to succeed him against the wish of the generality of the state leaders.

Eighteen states are conducting indirect primaries, while the remaining nine are conducting direct primary mode.