Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC), has warned aspirants for the Ondo state governorship party ticket to exercise control over their supporters against any act detrimental to the success of the July 20, 2020 primary election.
Chairman APC Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary National Convention committee, Mai Mala Buni, sounded the warning while swearing-in the Governorship Primary Election Committee at the party’s secretariat in Abuja on Friday.
Similarly, fielding questions from newsmen after the inauguration, chairman of the Primary committee and governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, equally warned that the aspirants lack the power to decide to the ruling party the mode of primary to adopt in ondo.
The governor who promised to ensure that his committee will provide level playing ground to guarantee free, fair and credible primary, however argued that aspirants determining the mode of primary is tantamount to politicians chosing to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the type of election to conduct.
In his address before the inauguration of the committee, Mai Buni, the Caretaker committee boss, said that in the attempt to avoid issues capable of creating disaffection, animosity and division to reignite fresh crisis within party fold, the national leadership assembled credible members of the committee.
“Therefore, as we start preparations for the Ondo State governorship election, the party has appointed reputable, credible and dependable Chairmen and Members for the Primary Election and Appeal Committees which we inaugurated today.
“I am convinced that these reliable ladies and gentlemen will be fair, transparent, impartial and upright to do justice to all the aspirants in the course of their assignments.
“As a party with great respect for internal democracy, we must appreciate and honour the popular choice for us to have a marketable candidate to be presented to the electorates during the election.
“There is no doubt; we are committed to renewing the mandate from the good people of Ondo State. I wish to caution our aspirants to respect the rules governing the party primary.
“The party is once again assuring you that it will remain fair and just to all and, as loyal party members, we expect you to accept the outcome of the primary in good faith.
“You should have control over your supporters against any act that is detrimental to the success of the exercise and, of breach to peace.
“We should strive to build and maintain a united front to once again win the confidence of the people of Ondo State through a transparent process.
With this remarks, I wish us all a very successful exercise and hereby, inaugurate the two committees,” he said.
The Yobe governor equally spoke on the situation in the party, revealing that the committee is painstakingly following some deliberate measures to entrench lasting peace.
“Precisely three weeks ago when we assumed the leadership of our great party the APC, we pledged to rescue, recover and rebuild a party based on a new confidence of trust, fairness and equal opportunity to all.
“Since then, we have painstakingly taken some deliberate measures of true reconciliation and consultations to foster unity and strengthen the party. I am proud to state that these measures are now yielding fruitful results and, we are committed to build on these achievements.
“The party is also carefully avoiding issues with the tendency of creating disaffection, animosity and division to reignite fresh crisis within its fold,” he noted.
Commenting on the raging issue of the mode of primary for the Ondo poll, Governor Bello said: “The Executive Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, is in Ondo right now, mediating, and to ensure that there is peaceful coexistence and agreement on this mode of primary among the aspirants.”
“But let me put it this way, from what I know about party politics especially in APC, I was once a contestant and I had opponents and from what I have come to realise, it is not within the purview of contestants to chose rules of engagement. We follow laid down rules and regulations of the party.
“As a member, we should abide by the rules and regulations, our party Constitution, the guidelines for the elections, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the Electoral Act and every other rule that guides elections. So, it is like going into the general elections now and then APC will be dictating to INEC that this is the rule we want.
“I do not think it sounds very nicely but I know at the end of the day that every contestant in this election shall be treated fairly and credibly and we shall have a candidate that is going to be acceptable to all the contestants and the people of Ondo State and we shall come out victorious in the general elections,” he promised.
Speaking further on his mission and the mode of primary to adopt in Ondo, Governor Bello said: “On the issue of the mode of primary, this has been settled by the previous NWC and ratified by National Executive Committee (NEC), which gives the opportunity to the state executive committee to chose the mode of primary that they would want. This has been settled.
“The Ondo Primary election would be conducted via indirect mode. This was the option choosen by the Ondo State chapter of the APC and ratified by NEC of our great party in the last meeting. So, we are going for indirect primary.
“The responsibility before me now is to go and conduct free, fair and credible primary election for whoever is going to be the candidate of our party and I shall restrict myself to that, which means I will be guided by the Constitution of our party, the guidelines and all the laws that support the primary election.
“If free, fair and credible primary is conducted, every member of the party, those who contested and those who are not contesting including members and sympathisers of the party would support it to victory. I am very confident that we are going to win the general election by the grace of God.
“The task ahead of us is to go and conduct free and fair primary that every aspirant will be happy with and then join hands together for us to be victorious at the end of the day,” Governor Bello promised.