Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Twenty aspirants jostling for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State governorship ticket have threatened to work against Governor Yahaya Bello if the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) failed to adopt direct mode of primaries to select the candidate of the party for the November 16 governorship poll.
Addressing newsmen during a protest at the national secretariat of the ruling party, they warned the national leadership of the party to rescind its decision on the mode of the primary election to avoid a repeat of the APC experience in Zamfara State.
“We write in respect of the outcome of the meeting of the NWC of our great party, the APC, which reportedly met on Friday, July 5, 2019 and adopted an Indirect primary election in picking a governorship candidate for the November 16, 2019 governorship election in Kogi State.
“At an emergency meeting of all the governorship aspirants in Kogi State held on Sunday, July 7, 2019, we reviewed the decision of the NWC viz-a-viz our aspiration and resolved as follows: That the planned adoption of the Indirect Party Primary is inherent with serious negative consequences for the fortune of the party in Kogi State;
“We regret to observe that such decision was taken without adequate consultation with critical stakeholders of the Party in the state especially the governorship aspirants on the platform of the Party and other contending groups in the polarized structure of the Party in the State;
“The decision to adopt an Indirect Primary by the National Working Committee is fraught with severe implications. First, contrary to the information given to the National Working Committee, there are suits pending in an Abuja court seeking to determine the authentic executive of the party in the state. As a matter of fact, at the last hearing, the suit was adjourned till October 2, 2019.
“Second, arising from the pendency of the various suits to determine the legitimate party executive council in the state, the use of any factional delegate list may amount to on exercise in futility. Lastly, we may have unconsciously set booby-trap for our party and the stage for the replay of the unfortunate Zamfara scenario.
“We observe that as a party committed to the enthronement of popular democracy, the resort to an Indirect Primary in the Kogi State chapter of the APC amounts to a muzzling of the wish of the generality of our party members, a victory for merchandised political culture and a deference to Governor Yahaya Bello’s wish to be the judge in his own case.”