By Jude Opara
Ahead of the 2027 elections, the only presidential aspirant challenging President Bola Tinubu for the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Stanley Osifo has said he is ready to slug it out with the President in the forthcoming primary election.
Osifo who spoke with newsmen shortly after he was screened also downplayed the option of withdrawing, saying that nobody in the party has even canvassed the idea with him.
He said, “When your eyes are on the plough, you move on. You don’t look back”.
On how he was received by the Screening Committee, the presidential aspirant said; “Screening is not something you go for without expecting some form of rigorous and challenging situation. But I think we are one party, and I presented everything I had to present.
“I was asked all the questions, and I responded accordingly. I strongly believe that the organ of our party responsible for the outcome of the screening exercise will do the needful.
“Possibly today or by tomorrow, we should be able to get the results of the screening conducted today”.
Reacting to the question of what mode of primary he would prefer, Osifo said; “As an aspirant and a member of the party, I am not the authority to decide which pattern of election we should adopt. It is left for the appropriate organ of our party to take that decision.
“Whatever position is taken, I am a party member, and I am expected to follow the rules and regulations of the party”.
On whether he would be willing to step down if the party asks him to do so, the aspirant responded: “The party has not told anyone to step down. The party has not mentioned anything like that.
“We have not discussed stepping down. I have never discussed anything about stepping down with anybody”, Osifo concluded.
According to the Constitution of the party and the Electoral Act, before any party takes the consensus option, all the concerned aspirants must accept, or they will do direct primary.
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