The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it will be guided only by its rules as provided for by its constitution in the conduct of its primaries for the governorship election in Kogi State and other places.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, said in a statement that the party may review its decision to use the indirect primary in Kogi State after studying the merit of a petition from the stateโs stakeholders against the mode approved by the party.
He reminded members that the partyโs constitution provides for three modes of primary, depending on the peculiarities of each state as endorsed by the National Executive Committee.
The statement reads: โThe APC National Working Committee has received petitions from some stakeholders in Kogi State in reaction to indirect primaries adopted for the election of the partyโs candidate for the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
โThe NWC will look at the merit of the petitions in line with the partyโs constitution and come out with a position in due course.
โThe NWC, therefore, thank the aggrieved APC stakeholders in Kogi State for the peaceful manner in which they have conducted themselves so far and their trust in the NWC to do the right thing.
โIt needs restating that the APC Constitution, which was reemphasised by a decision of the National Executive Committee (NEC) provides for three modes of primaries to elect party candidates โ indirect, direct primaries and consensus โ depending on the peculiarities of the state and preferences of the stakeholders in respective elections.
โWe assure all concerned parties that the NWC would be guided only by our rules.โ
But another group of 37 governorship aspirants on the platform of Kogi State APC yesterday backed the decision of the partyโs National Working Committee to approve indirect primary to select its candidate for the November 16 election.
The group, under the auspices of Coalition of Kogi APC Aspirants, said they were confident of beating Governor Yahaya Bello at the primary because they believe that they have control of the delegates.
Spokesman of the group, Comrade Edime Godwin Amade, said the aspirants kicking against the indirect mode of primary were working for the downfall of the party in the state.
They noted that the NWC should not allow the group to pull the wool over their eyes.
He claimed that the fact that the governor has built the party in the state is not an indication that he would win the primary and pick the party ticket.
He said further that any idea that they will step down for Bello should be discountenanced as they are already putting their resources together to collect the nomination form.
A group of 20 aspirants had on Monday rejected the indirect primary as adopted by the APC NWC), saying it amount to handing the party ticket to the governor on a platter of gold.
