APC will abide by INEC guidelines in primaries -Oshiomole

By Hafsat Abdullahi

The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomole has assured that the party will abide by the guidelines of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in conducting its primary elections, pointing out that the rules are derived from the provisions of the nation’s Electoral Act.
Oshiomole made this known yesterday to reporters at the APC caucus meeting held in Abuja, where he confirmed that the meeting discussed the upcoming party primaries based on the timetable and activities scheduled by INEC.
The chairman said that the APC has pledged to comply with electoral guidelines to demonstrate fairness, justice and observe all the principles of internal democracy while conducting its upcoming party primaries.
“As you know, based on INEC timetable on primaries, this is the season from the president down to House of Assembly and the exercise must end on October 7 according to INEC guidelines. We are obliged to comply with the guidelines because the guidelines are derived from the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“So, we basically discussed how to ensure full compliance with the INEC guidelines and also ensure that that we observe all the principles of internal democracy, participation, ensuring fairness and justice,’’ he said.
He added that the timetable given by INEC indicated that party primaries for presidential, governorship, federal and state elections would commence on August 18 to October 27 2018, while the Federal Capital Territory will start on September 4 to October 27, 2018.
Oshiomole further stated that the resolutions at the APC caucus meeting would be said at the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party which will be fixed for discussions and possible endorsement. “By Thursday we will go to NEC where the formal decisions will be rectified and once they are rectified there will be no problem; they are not being kept because every member of the party and indeed Nigerian are entitled to know how we agreed about the exercise.
“But I think everybody has confidence that we will do very credible primaries to ensure that those who fly the flag of the party have the mandate of their various constituencies,’’ he said.