APC holds National Assembly primaries, releases committee

By Jude Opara

Finally, the All Progressives Congress (APC) late Friday evening released the list of National Assembly Primary Election and Appeals Committee, saddled with the responsibility of conducting the primary elections to select the candidates that will fly the party’s flag in the 2027 general elections.

The authorized list which was signed by the National Organizing Secretary, Suleiman Argungu directed all the appointees to arrive at their designated states of operation before the the exercise which takes place across the country on Saturday, May 16.

Due to the unusual delay in the release of the list, it’s feared that the exercise may suffer yet another postponement after the list was only made public around 4:30 pm on Friday.

One of the Committee members who was posted to Kano said there was no way he could begin to head to Kano after about 5pm.

“You see why many people say that the party is confused. The primary election is supposed to take place on Saturday and by 4:30 pm on Friday you are releasing the names of the committee members, how can they make it?

“I for one, I am supposed to be in Kano, but you and I know that there is no way I can begin to travel to Kano which is about five or six hours from here, so the earliest I can move is tomorrow and if I meet them, good and fine”.

It could be recalled that there have been reports of high wired politicking and intrigues that followed the selection of the committee members, as state governors allegedly hijacked the entire process.

The party had scheduled to kickstart its primary elections on Friday with the House of Representatives, but with just a few hours to the day, the party in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary (NPS), Barr. Felix Morka announced a slight postponement to Saturday, May 16.

On Wednesday, the party had issued a statement debunking the rumour that the primary was not going to commence on Friday as earlier scheduled.

But curiously, late on Thursday, the party had in a swift u-turn issued another statement announced that the primary election would now begin on Saturday with the House of Representatives.

However, sources at the National Secretariait of the party revealed that the party was in a quagmire concerning the formation of the committee.

It was learnt that attempts by the governors to hijack the process by insisting on nominating almost 100% of the committee membership did not go down well with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, who in turn are delaying the release of the names, so as to find a way of including their own candidates.

Another source at the party secretariat who pleaded anonymity told this reporter that the party may have secretly been sending text messages to those they are planning to use to conduct the primaries.

“I want to tell you that we at the Secretariait are as confused as you are, infact, this is Friday afternoon and as we speak we don’t know what is happening, we don’t know those who will be listed as members of the primary election committee. We are waiting for instructions know the next directive”.

All efforts to get the perspective of the party was impossible as the National Publicity Secretary, Barr. Felix Morka failed to either pick his calls or return them.