Bola Tinubu, national leader of
the All Progressives Congress, APC, has revealed what leaders of the party
discussed with Ekiti governorship aspirants in Abuja.
Tinubu said the governorship
aspirants demanded for direct primaries for the conduct of the rescheduled
primaries, as provided for in Article 20 of the party’s constitution.
He said the aspirants noted that
the “Direct Primaries” would enable every card-carrying member of the party
vote for candidate of their choice.
This was contained in a statement
signed by Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chief Pius Akinyelure.
The statement reads, “Concerned
by the developments within the Ekiti State Chapter of our party, the All
Progressives Congress (APC), with respect to the huge number of Governorship
Aspirants and the botched primary election of Saturday, 5th May, 2018, the
leadership of the party from the South West geo-political zone on Tuesday, 8th
May, 2018 met in Abuja with the 33 Governorship Aspirants who participated in
the primary election to review the circumstances that led to the disruption of
the election.
“The leaders at the meeting held
at the Lagos State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja were Chief Bisi Akande,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chief
Pius Akinyelure.
“Among other issues, the question
of how to conduct a free, credible and transparent primary election was
discussed at the meeting. All the Aspirants were agreeable to the intervention
and admonition of the leaders that they maintain the peace throughout the
process.
“The Aspirants encouraged the
leaders to further discuss with the National Chairman of the party, His
Excellency, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, on the way forward. Specifically, the
leaders were mandated to discuss with the National Chairman of the party on the
possibility of an option of Direct Primaries for the conduct of the rescheduled
primaries, as provided for in Article 20 of our party’s constitution to enable
every card-carrying member of the party vote for an aspirant of his or her
choice.
“As opposed to the Delegates
System, the Aspirants believe Direct Primary election is more transparent, less
monetised and energises the democratic system through the participation and
involvement of the generality of the party members.
“After a subsequent meeting of
the leaders with the National Chairman of the party, with the Ekiti State
Chairman of the party, Chief Jide Awe, and two representatives of the
Aspirants, Engr. Segun Oni and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, in attendance, it was
decided that given the extent of planning and logistics involved and the
closeness of the deadline for the conduct of primaries by all political parties
in Ekiti State as well as submission of names of candidates to the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), it would be better to go by the decision
of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to conduct a fresh
Indirect Primary Election in Ekiti State on Friday, 11th May, 2018, the leaders
having been assured by both the National Chairman of the party as well as His
Excellency, Governor Tanko Al-Makura that the rejuvenated Primary Election
Committee would put new and extra measures in place to ensure a restoration of
the integrity of the electoral process aimed at producing a credible Candidate
with the highest number of votes.”
“In view of this, the entire
leadership of the party from the South West geo-political region hereby calls
on all the delegates in Ekiti State to ensure full and active participation at
the primary election on Friday. We also encourage delegates to vote according
to their conscience and ensure that the process is not monetised in the overall
interest of our party, the growth of our democracy and consistent with our
progressive tradition which our people are noted for. The Aspirants themselves
are enjoined to shun all manners of sharp practices and avoid any resort to
violence during the rescheduled primaries.”
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