APC national secretariat
According to Vanguard, as many as eighty-six of the nation’s 91
political parties were engaged in a last minute rush, last night, to
submit their lists of National Assembly and presidential candidates to
the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in order to beat the
midnight deadline.
As of 7pm yesterday, 86 political parties had been given tally and
were on the queue. Out of the figure, over 50 political parties
including the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the main
opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had completed the processes.
No fewer than 89 political parties had notified the Commission of
their intention to conduct their primaries and sponsor candidates to the
Commission for the 2019 general elections.
This came as aggrieved aspirants in the APC protested the
substitution or otherwise of their names by the leadership of the party
in the final list it submitted to the INEC.
At the venue, former governor of Ondo State and presidential
candidate of the Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, Dr Olusegun Mimiko advised
INEC to be thorough with the process to guarantee the confidence of the
leadership of the political parties.
On his part, National Chairman of the Advanced Peoples Democratic
Alliance, APDA, Shittu Mohammed, expressed satisfaction over the
exercise.
The national secretariat of the APC was tension-soaked yesterday as
many of the aspirants besieged the premises trying to have a glimpse of
the names to be submitted to the electoral body.
APC Director of Organization, Abubakar Kari, led some officials of
the party in a branded APC bus to submit the list to INEC at about
2.00pm
In the APC appeal committee report sighted by Vanguard, many
aspirants had sufficient grounds to launch their appeals but the
committee decided not to uphold most of the appeals because of effluxion
of time, the period for political party primaries as scheduled by INEC
having lapsed. Hence, the committee struck out many appeals saying there
was no to conduct fresh primaries.
Aisha Buhari’s brother, Usani, Abe, Ribadu, others lose out as APC submits list
Former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Chairman,
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Senator Representing Rivers South-East, Magnus Abe,
and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru Usani emerged as
some of the biggest losers as their appeals were struck out.
Others who also lost out in the governorship race include a brother
to the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, Dr Mahmoud Halilu popularly
known as Modi; President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC)
Bala Bobboi Kaigama and Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun who lost
the opportunity to have his choice candidate returned as the party’s
governorship flag bearer.
While Prof. Pat Utomi’s petition in Delta was dismissed because it
had been “overtaken by events”, the committee urged the national
leadership to consult with the president on the choice of governorship
candidate for Bornu state.
A summary of the report indicate that all petitions against the
Senate and House of Representatives primaries were rejected by the
panel, the same position with Bayelsa, Rivers and Cross Rivers states.
However, aspirants whose petitions were not treated have protested
against the report of the Panel saying grave injustice has been done to
them both in the conduct of the primaries and the outcome of the Appeals
Panel.
One of the aspirants Mr. Adaze Wilson Imafidon, who was seeking the
party’s ticket to contest the Orhionmwon/Uhunmwonde House of
Representatives Federal Constituency seat of Edo, submitted a petition
to the appeals committee through his lawyers, describing the purported
primary election held in the constituency as a sham.
According to his legal representatives, Imafidon and Imafidon of
Eghosa Chambers, the aspirant alleged that none of the accredited
members of the APC committee sent to the area was present during the
purported election in the Orhionmwon/Uhunmwonde Federal Constituency
except in Urhonigbe South where only the INEC went to observe.
Another aspirant, Christopher Ariri, who is an aspirant for the Orhionmwon East State Constituency of Edo State, said, “Some
of the accredited members of the appropriate committee mandated by the
party to supervise and conduct the primary election into the Edo state
House of Assembly’s Orhionmwon East Constituency, totally hijacked the
process when they noticed our huge support by deliberately declining to
count votes cast for us so as to foist on us a situation of complete
helplessness”.
Another group, the Benue South APC Justice and Equality Movement
undertook a peaceful protest to the headquarters of the party, asking
the NWC to call the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, to order
for allegedly substituting the names of elected candidates with those
who did not participate at the primary.
The coordinator of the group, Mr. Akor Ikwuocha, told journalists
that they were surprised that after winners have emerged and names were
submitted to the approximate authority by the electoral committee, “the
Minister allegedly from overseas, called a meeting of few persons and
announced to them that he is substituting names of most of the
candidates because they were not his choice.
“Today, there is no single campaign bill board of President
Muhammadu Buhari in the whole of Benue South Senatorial district despite
the fact that the Benue South has a cabinet member in person of Chief
Audu Ogbe.”