Tinubu To 31 APC Govs: Ensure Hitch-free Party Primaries
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday evening directed all the 31 governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure free, fair and rancour-free primaries across the states, in strict compliance with the Electoral Act. This, he said, is part of efforts to preserve the unity and cohesion of the party.
Addressing newsmen after a closed-door meeting with the President at the State House, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and his Niger State counterpart, Mohammed Bago, said deliberations focused on measures to forge a stronger and more cohesive party in the aftermath of the party elections.
The duo said the president reaffirmed his support for the party’s decision to allow states to adopt either consensus or direct primaries in line with the Electoral Act.
According to AbdulRazaq, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF): “We came to thank the President for his magnanimity and his support to the governors and for our party. The APC, he gave us a marching order on what to do for him also to have given and ceded his executive power to the governors to go ahead and conduct primaries based on the Electoral Act, either through consensus or direct primaries.”
Bago, on his part, said the President reaffirmed his support and gave approval for the primaries to proceed, noting that the timetable for the exercise had been released.
His words: “So he’s reiterated his support for our decision, and he has given us a go-ahead to go ahead. The timetable for the primaries has been released. We’ve discussed the process moving forward so that there’ll be free and fair elections, no rancour at the end of the process, the party should be stronger than ever heading towards the election.”
No fewer than 18 governors were present at the meeting and included Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Hope Uzodimma (Imo), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Prof. Babagana Zulum (Borno), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), Peter Mbah (Enugu), and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), while some states were represented by deputy governors.
