Consensus may not work for presidential primary

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, says the consensus method which was used in electing party officers during the March 26, 2022 convention may not be feasible for the party’s presidential primary which begins on Sunday.

The APC chairman said this during a chat with Voice of America Hausa service in Abuja on Wednesday.

Adamu emerged as the APC chairman in March after the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), endorsed him and asked other aspirants to step down for him.

However, the APC chairman said a presidential primary was completely different from a chairmanship election.

On plans by the party to force a consensus, he said, “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 sure we pick the right candidate for the party.”

The APC chairman, however, said the 28 aspirants ought to know that all of them cannot emerge as the candidate of the party.

He added, “You can’t stop a party stalwart from contesting election or aspiring for the Presidency. It is their rights and we are happy for them. There is nothing wrong for anybody aspiring for the exalted seat of the presidency. It is God that decides who gets what.

“Once God makes up his mind and say this is who He wants, that is what we are praying for. We have 28 aspirants for the presidential ticket and everybody knows that all of them cannot get the ticket.

“If it is God’s wish, they all can even be president of the country one after the other. Ours is to ensure justice in the choice of who emerges candidate of the party. That does not mean we are perfect. But we pray we do the right thing.”

Adamu also said there was no evidence that aspirants were lobbying delegates with money.

The APC national chairman stated that he has since discovered that it was the delegates who have been hawking their conscience to the highest bidders.

According to him, there was no known law in the country stopping aspirants running for various political offices from taking their campaign to delegates across the country.

“For now, there is no law against aspirants taking campaign to delegates. I don’t have evidence that aspirants are sharing money to delegates. For me it’s the delegates that are selling their conscience which is not proper.

“Our delegates should know that anybody sharing money to them can’t be the right candidate of the party. He doesn’t mean well for the country. I don’t have solution for the problem,” he said.