By David Lawani
The May 30 and 31 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries appear a herculean task and puzzles for all the aspirants seeking the presidential ticket of the party.

This is to be seen within the prism of real politics at play in the party as each of the aspirants is required to get the signatories of about 270 accredited delegates to the exercise as contained in the expression of interest and nomination forms purchased by them.

A statutory requirement that must be fulfilled or such aspirant stands to be disqualified from the race, a source reported. This is no doubt a clear case of putting into trial the popularity of the aspirants.

So far from the information obtained at the ongoing sale of EOI by the party, a total number of 22 aspirants have purchased the presidential forms to contest for the presidential ticket.

If you multiply the number by the delegates expected, it will amount to a total of 5900 delegates. But the actual number of delegates to the primary is 7,800 from the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory.

The claim by some of the stalwarts is that the list submitted by state chairmen of the party to the national secretariat for the conduct of the convention held on March 26 in Abuja was suspended, due to several factors.

But, unverified reports put the number of delegates that will participate in the presidential primaries now at 7,800.

However, the APC timetable of programs and activities for the primaries, and the congress to elect state and national delegates will hold between May 7 and 9.

Two of the major grouse of some party chieftains is that the document contained the names of some party members that left the party out of their volition or ceased being members due to circumstances beyond their control, including death and unresolved grievances

Buhari departs for Cote d’Ivoire to attend COP-15 conference

Some party sources said the planned election of delegates coming might not hold in some states where there are disputes over the list of delegates.

But a top-notch and a member of the APC confided in ThisNigeria that the list required deliberate approval before it will have a foothold for the February 25, 2023, general election. And that how popular an aspirant is will also be a factor to consider.

Nevertheless, taking a look Article 12.1 (v) of the APC Constitution states that serving and past members of the National Assembly who are members of the party, serving and past Speakers, Deputy Speakers, and other principal officers of the state Houses of Assembly, and all serving members of the State Houses of Assembly who are members of the party are delegates.

There was hoopla over the list of delegates from the Oyo State chapter of the party, which necessitated the intervention of the national body intending to harmonize the document. A similar crisis rocks APC chapters in Benue, Plateau, Ogun, Rivers, Imo, Zamfara, Lagos, and Kano amongst others.

Another complaint is that the list was tinkered with by those that compiled it before it was submitted to the then Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni-led caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) with the names of some categories of party members that were not qualified as delegates.

For instance, some party leaders said they were amazed when they found ‘delegates’ who fell under such category at the Eagle Square, the venue of the March 26 convention with tags to gain entry. There were claims that some of them colluded with officials at the state level to smuggle their names into the list.

According to sources, the development reportedly resulted in a corrupted list of delegates in some states, while in others, some qualified delegates were technically disenfranchised. It was also alleged that many party members who left the party more than a year ago still had their names in the list of delegates used for the last convention.

But, it is not clearly defined or established when a party member should be seen to have left the party. If they are directly or indirectly behind the shenanigans, the weeks ahead will either disprove or approve the whole permutation as true or not.

Buhari departs for Cote d’Ivoire to attend COP-15 conference

As can be seen, virtually all the 22 aspirants seeking the APC ticket for the presidency are currently crisscrossing states to lobby prospective delegates ahead of the primary even though some aspirants are still been touted in some quarters to deny that they do not know or have anything to do with the presidential forms.

The categories of delegates from states allowed under the APC Constitution include governors and their deputies; former governors and ex-deputies; non-carrier ambassadors; present and former members of the National Assembly elected on APC ticket.

However, the constitution of the party only allows past and present principal officers of state Houses of Assembly in line with the provisions of the new Electoral Act. In other words, serving and former members of state Houses of assembly are excluded from being delegates, whereas such names were contained in the list of delegates for the recent convention that elected substantive national officers of the APC.

“During accreditation, personal identification card was required, but with huge cash, those saddled with the accreditation will ordinarily surrender the delegate tags to whoever pays higher,” the top party source alleged.

The source cited the case of a state in the North-Central, where the list of delegates contained the names of people that defected to other political parties more than a year ago and those members of the APC that had passed on.

The names of former principal officers of the legislature were said to have been excluded from the list.

“There is nowhere under this article or in any other parts of the APC Constitution that enables all former members of the state Houses of Assembly to be delegates at any level, be it at the ward, Local government, state, zonal, or national convention,” the source stated

A chieftain of the party, Abayomi Oyalowo, in a telephone chat with ThisNigeria, said most of the aspirants will get the delegates’ requirement, adding that those who failed to get it have no business to be in the process of contesting for the presidential ticket.

He maintained that the only option left is for such an aspirant to resign voluntarily.
According to him, “I am sure most of the aspirants will get the required number of delegates to sign their forms. However, if anyone cannot meet the requirement, then such a person has no business contesting in the first place. The only option open to them is to opt-out of the race.”

Former Senator, Francis Nzeribe dies at 83

However, the chairman of APC in Edo State, Col. David Imuse (retd.) in his observation, stated there is no reason to be worried over the cost of hosting the delegates by the aspirants in Abuja for the presidential primaries.

He said, “What is huge about the 370 delegates from the 36 states including FCT? That is 22 X 270? There is no big deal about the delegates. If you divide 270 by six per state you will see that it is even few as a requirement for an aspirant. It is next to nothing. There is no issue there.”

But another party stakeholder, who craved anonymity, said if you divide 370 delegates by six that is about 50 per state for the delegates.

“Only the popular aspirant will get those huge signatories even though it appears easy. The state governors are in total control of the delegates. So, how can you leave them behind,” he noted.