2023: As APC holds presidential primaries…

Barring any last-minute changes, the All Progressives Congress (APC) will, between Sunday and Monday, conduct its presidential primary election to elect who will fly its ticket; TOPE SUNDAY writes.

In its announced timetable, the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has once again altered the schedule of its primary elections, and in the new timetable, the primary election for Senate (LGA delegates) was held on May 27, while House of Representatives (LGA delegates) primaries were to be held on May 28.

The governorship (state delegates) and House of Assembly (local government area (LGA) primaries were held on May 26.

Also, in the new timetable, the House of Representatives (LGA delegates) primaries were held on May 27 and the primary election for Senate (LGA delegates) was fixed for May 28.

The party maintained that the special convention for the presidential primaries would be held as scheduled from May 29 to May 30.

However, the party’s presidential primary election is much-anticipated and much- talked about because of the number of aspirants who submitted their nomination and expression of interest forms at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.

The aspirants

Though 25 APC presidential aspirants submitted their nomination and expression of interest forms two; the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, had pulled out of the race.

Pastor Tunde Bakare; Chief Ikeobasi Mokelu, Mrs Uju Ohanenye and Pastor Nicholas Nwagbo; Chief Ogbonnaya Onu; Emeka Nwajiuba and Chief Ken Nnamani; Senator Rochas Okorocha; Tein Jack-Rich; Senator Sani Yerima; Senator Ajayi Borrofice; Governor Yahaya Bello, Governor David Umahi and Dimeji Bankole, are some of the APC presidential aspirants.

Others are Senator Godswill Akpabio Governor Ben Ayade and Senator Ibikunle Amosun; Senate President Ahmed Lawan; Governor Mohammed Badaru of Jigawa state; APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Rotimi Amaechi, and Governor Kayode Fayemi.

The delegates

As of the time of filing in this report, the exact number of delegates was not certain. However,  if President Muhammadu Buhari signs the amended 2022 Electoral Act before the D-day, 7,800 delegates may vote at the convention; but he does not, 2,322 elected delegates from the 774 local government areas, and if 18 delegates from six Abuja councils are added, the figure will be 2,340.

The preliminary breakdown shows that in the South-west, which is made up of six states, has 1,568: Osun (308), Lagos (304), Oyo (29), Ogun (248), Ekiti (216) and Ondo (200).

South-south, also with six states, has 919 delegates: Cross River 194, Delta 170, Edo 168, Akwa Ibom 165, Rivers 151, and Bayelsa 71.

The South-east has 838 from five states; Imo 236, Anambra 163, Ebonyi 154, Abia 154 and Enugu 131.

In the North-central with six states, there are 1,278 delegates. Niger has 251, Nasarawa 245, Kogi 222, Kwara 195, Plateau 185 and Benue 180.

The North-west has 1,924. Kano has 465, Katsina 384, Jigawa 266, Kaduna 234, Kebbi 213, Sokoto 193 and Zamfara 169.

From the North-east are 1,212 delegates.  Borno has 324, Yobe 222, Bauchi 202, Adamawa 184, Taraba 146 and Gombe 134.

Though, all the delegates’ figure was not official as of the time of filing in this report, another source within the party, told this reporter that consensus might not be adopted.

Consensus

However, after weeks of much-touted consensus arrangements to pick the APC presidential candidate, the party’s national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, while featuring on the Voice of America Hausa Service in Abuja, declared that the party’s candidate would not be picked through a consensus.

“There is no truth in what you said. The reason is that the chairmanship seat is not the same as that of the tussle for the presidency of the country. You can’t even compare the two of them. That question does not arise. However, the party has laid down its rules and regulations for the aspirants. We would scrutinise all of them based on our guidelines to be certain we pick the right candidate for the party,” he said.

The contenders, pretenders

One of the presidential aspirants, and the governor of Ekiti state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said there were more pretenders in the race for the presidential ticket of the APC than contenders.

He said out of the 23 persons currently in the race, only five of them were serious in the quest to clinch the ticket of the party.

He did not, however, name the five aspirants. Fayemi said this while soliciting the support of the delegates from Niger state during a visit to the state on Sunday.

“This is a season of visits and states keep receiving us. The list of presidential aspirants says there are 23, but only five of us are going around the country. With this, you can separate the pretenders from the contenders,” he said.

Also, in his article titled: “7 Days to APC’s Presidential Primary: Who’s for Whom?,

Dr. Gbenga Adefulu, a public affairs analyst, had earlier stated that there were jokers, non-serious, pretender, negotiator, tricky and serious aspirants. While analysing his assertion, he named Pastor Tunde Bakare, Chief Ikeobasi Mokelu, Mrs. Uju Ohanenye and Pastor Nicholas Nwagbo as joker-aspirants because since they submitted forms, they have gone to sleep. For the non-serious aspirants, he called out Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Emeka Nwajiuba and Chief Ken Nnamani, and said they were backing on the zoning of the ticket to their zone.

In the pretender category, he named Senator Rochas Okorocha; Tein Jack-Rich; Senator Sani Yerima; Senator Ajayi Borrofice; Governor Yahaya Bello; Governor David Umahi and Dimeji Bankole, and alleged that they were only mimicking the serious contenders in the race.

Adefulu also described Senator Godswill Akpabio, Governor Ben Ayade and Senator Ibikunle Amosun as “negotiators” who are negotiating table either in terms of trading state delegates to the highest bidder among the serious aspirants, or strategically preparing the ground to position himself in the administration of the next government if APC wins the February 2023 presidential election.

He continued, “The tricky aspirant was nudged to join the presidential race in the hope that a Northerner will emerge as APC’s candidate to counter the highly probable emergence of Atiku and PDP’s presidential candidate.” He named

the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, and Governor Mohammed Badaru of Jigawa state to have fallen into that category.

He, however, named Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi and Governor Kayode Fayemi as the serious contenders “because their campaigns have dominated political headlines in the last three weeks.”

Well, popular opinion is that it’s going to be a titanic battle amongst the contenders.