Again, APC Shelves Presidential Primary
By Akombo Aondona, Abuja
Against its avowed stance not to do so, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, 27th May, 2022 extended its own fixed deadline for political parties to conduct their primaries and submit their lists of candidates to it, which the electoral umpire had earlier fixed at June, 2022.
Following this development, INEC has drawn the ire of a cross section of Nigerians who accused INEC of “pandering to the whims and caprices of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)”, which according to these group of Nigerians is unprepared to pick a presidential candidate just yet and needs more time to do it following a web of intrigues reportedly plaguing the APC and its plethora of presidential aspirants.
And as if to confirm this allegation, the APC has formally, again, postponed its special convention for the primary of the 2023 presidential election.
National Publicity Secretary, APC, Felix Morka, made the confirmation in a terse statement titled: “APC special convention for presidential primary postponed” ssued in the early hours of Saturday 28 May, 2022.
Morka said the postponement followed the extension of the deadline for the submission of the list of candidates by political parties by INEC.
Morka wrote: “Following the Independent National Electoral Commission’s extension of deadline for the submission of list of candidates by political parties, the All Progressives Congress hereby postpones its special convention for presidential primary from Sunday, 29 – Monday, 30 May, 2020 to Monday, 6 – Wednesday, 8 June, 2022.”
National Commissioner, and Chairman Information and voters Education, Barr Festus Okoye, announced the INEC extension in a statement issued in Abuja.
Okoyed said the commission however exclude the already conducted party primaries and would not monitor such primaries again.
The statement read: “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met with the leadership of political parties today Friday 27th May 2022. Once again, the political parties requested the Commission to review the timelines for political party primaries provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the conduct of the 2023 General Election released on Saturday 26th February 2022.
“Earlier, the political parties had requested for 37-60 days extension of the timeline for primaries and the nomination of candidates. The Commission was emphatic that this request could not be granted because it would disrupt other scheduled activities on the Timetable. This position of the Commission has not changed.
“However, based on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election, the parties have now pleaded with the Commission to use the 6-day period between 4th and 9th June 2022 to conclude outstanding primaries and prepare to upload the list of candidates and their affidavits on the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal. The Commission did not schedule any specific activity during this period. The idea is to simply give parties time to compile the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates before uploading same to the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal from 10th – 17th June 2022.
“The Commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates or any of the subsequent timelines which remain sacrosanct. However, this request is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only without prejudice to those already concluded by political parties. The Commission will not monitor already concluded primaries.”
But Nigerians who called on breakfast radio and television morning shows as well those on social media monitored by The Dream Daily Newspaper in Abuja insisted that INEC’s volte-face was not unconnected with the ruling APC and the difficulty it has encountered in picking a consensus candidate.
Some even claimed that the postponement was effected in order for the APC to firm up its internal arrangements to make former President Goodluck Jonathan its consensus candidate, saying INEC made the decision with a good eye on some on-going legal cases challenging Jonathan’s eligibility. One of such cases was resolved on Friday at a Bayelsa high court, which ruled that the former president was still eligible to contest in 2023.
A member of one of the political parties (name withheld) who does not want his name in print said: “There is no truth in the claim that all of us (the political parties) wanted INEC to postpone the primaries. INEC is pandering to the whim and caprices of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which is not ready to do their presidential primary because of infighting over consensus (presidential candidate). You should ask INEC what has changed since the last time IPAC (Inter-party Advisory Committee, the umbrella body of registered political parties in Nigeria) purportedly asked for the extension. IPAC is being controlled by APC; they are compromised.
“As we speak all the primaries have been done or will be concluded by tomorrow (Saturday 28 May). So what are they talking? APC are supposed to hold their own presidential primaries on Sunday but they cannot because the house is not settled. APC is the reason for this postponement. INEC is playing games with Nigeria. If the 2023 elections become illegal as a result of violation of the Electoral Act Nigerians should hold INEC responsible because they are boxing themselves into a corner with this unwarranted postponement. There is not time for these Shenanigans because the Electoral Act is so tight for time.”
However, in earlier media reports, National Chairman, APC, Sen. Adamu Abdullahi had claimed that the party has dropped the consensus option to choose its presidential candidate.
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