The National Chairman of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) Abdullahi Adamu has disclosed that the party is giving all the contenders equal opportunity to contest the upcoming primary elections, assuring that nobody will defect to another party after the election.
Adamu gave the assurance on Saturday while addressing a group of party members in the diaspora at a global virtual town hall session on “Intra-Party democracy for the Emergence of Best Candidates.”
The Chairman, who was represented by his Special Assistant Abdullahi Yau, added, “I can assure you this is the most interesting part; the number of people that are contesting and they are going to give everybody a playing level ground where you can exercise your right as a Nigerian to contest.
“And at the end of the exercise, just as what happened in the National convention, you see that everybody will be satisfied with whoever that emerges from the primaries.”
According to him: “Unless you have a process that is not well coordinated, a process that is marred by irregularities that’s when people will be aggrieved and would want to leave the party. If you’re allowed to exercise your right and you think there’s fairness in what’s going on in the party and you lose, I don’t think you would want to leave the party.”
Should any aspirants be disgruntled after the primaries, he said a high-power delegation will be deployed to ensure that the issue is resolved amicably.
“I assure you even if we are going to have such a scenario, where we are going to have aggrieved members after the primaries, the Chairman and stakeholders of the party will ensure they reconcile everybody after the primaries.
“They will listen to you and provide for your needs. In this way, we can carry along everybody to the party.”
Similarly, the National Coordinator, APC Ward-to-ward Ambassadors, Abuja, Nigeria, Myke Ozurumba, noted that members of the APC diaspora community are exploring all avenues to fill the gap of participation and governance, as well as improve the democratic process in Nigeria.
The primaries for the House of Representatives and Governorship will hold on the same day, May 26, while May 27 is fixed for appeal.
May 27 is the date for primaries for the Senate and State House of Assembly, May 28 is the date for the appeal. The presidential primary will hold on May 29 and 30.