Nentawe Yilwatda, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that the ongoing primaries of the party for various elective positions ahead of the 2027 general elections are the most competitive in the history of the country, news.ng reports.
Yilwatda made this known to journalists after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos on Wednesday night.
According to the chairman of the party, the assessment was easy despite the thousands of delegates voting for their desired candidates to fill limited positions.
He said: “The assessment is very simple. You can see how competitive our party have turned out to be. In terms of just simple demand and supply, we have few positions and we have thousands of people who have come to vote for this position across the country.
“The most competitive ever in the history of Nigeria. It shows how APC penetrated all communities in Nigeria and how they are accepted by Nigerians, and how every facet of Nigeria wants to be a member of APC and all leaders, people that want to become leaders in Nigeria; they’ve seen APC as their first choice. And I want to thank Nigerians for that support and acceptance of the party.”
When asked for his view concerning the reported irregularities and intimidation of delegates at some of the concluded primaries, Yilwatda noted that the party had clearly spelled out the guidelines for both consensus and direct primaries, as alternatives had been provided.
According to him, there had not been any reported case of the party forcing a particular mode of election on the people.
He explained: “Our guidelines on consensus are clear. Our guidelines on direct primaries are also clear. Where consensus doesn’t work, you go for direct primaries.
“That’s what people are doing across the states. There’s no state that people have complained that they wanted direct primaries and they were given compulsory consensus. Because it’s consensus form that we give.
“You must sign off those consensus forms that you’ve stepped down. You agreed on a consensus candidate before the process takes place. That’s what we’re following in the guidelines.”
While there have been grievances from aspirants who participated in some of the concluded primaries, the party was asked how the National Working Committee (NWC) would handle cases such as delegate intimidation and electoral fraud, among others.
He responded, saying that the party had already set up a conflict resolution committee charged with looking into and resolving the issues raised by aggrieved members.
He added that it is normal for candidates who lose an election to complain, but assured that complaints would be resolved early in order for the party to focus on campaigning.
He added: “We have an internal conflict resolution mechanism that has prevailed over a period. We have the Presidential Conflict Resolution Committee.
“We have the Party Conflict Resolution Committee. The party itself has been working to ensure that we reduce crises as much as we can. We’ll manage people as much as we can.
“I’m sure if you look at it, of course, everywhere, if you lose an election, it’s not a rare thing. The emotion, the sentiments, the fact that you feel you’re the best and then suddenly it’s going, you’re not the one. The sentiments and feelings, the ill feelings, sometimes it’s there.
“But we ensure that we have the early healing process so that we can work on the campaign process so that we can emerge victorious across the country in 2027.”
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