Politics
APC Governors Meet Over Convention, Direct Primaries
Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held a closed door meeting on Sunday night in Abuja with the use of direct primaries reportedly at the top of the agenda.
Meeting under the aegis of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) were the host governor and chairman of the group, Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi, his counterparts from Kwara, Imo, Borno, Ebonyi, Lagos and Zamfara.
Others were governors of Niger, Ogun, Cross River, Kogi, Nasarawa, Katsina, Plateau, Ekiti, Jigawa and Kano States.
As at 10:00 p.m., their counterparts from Osun, Yobe, Gombe and Kaduna States were still being expected.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was expected to, among other things, discuss the party’s forthcoming National Convention, its zoning arrangement, direct primary and others issues.
The PGF at its meeting of. Nov. 9 had said that adopting direct primaries by political parties would overstretch the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
NAN reports that the National Assembly adopted Section 87 of the amended electoral bill currently awaiting the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari.
That section stipulates mandatory direct primaries for all political parties, a provision that many of the APC governors are said to be objected to.
However, at PGF last meeting, the Chair, Bagudu said that INEC’s decision to make it mandatory for political parties to elect their candidates for elective positions through direct primaries was undemocratic.
According to him, it will limit the parties ability to choose their desired options.
Direct primaries involve the participation of all party members in the selection of candidates, while indirect primaries involves the use of delegates who are mostly leaders and executives at the ward, local government and state levels to elect the party’s candidates at congress or convention.
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