Investigations by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the ruling party has completed work on the results submitted to its national secretariat and is preparing to upload the names of successful candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal.
According to INEC’s revised timetable for next year’s general elections, political parties are required to submit the list of candidates for the presidential and National Assembly elections between 27 June and 11 July this year, while the schedule for state governorship and House of Assembly elections is between 18 July and 8 August.
The last day for the submission of nomination forms for the presidential and National Assembly elections is 29 August. while that of state governorship and House of Assembly is 26 September.
The development in the APC effectively shuts the door on fresh appeals and demands for fresh primary elections by some members who had accused party officials of manipulation and imposition of aspirans during the exercise.
According to a principal official of the party and another member of its National Working Committee, APC has neither altered nor is considering reviewing the results of the recently concluded primary elections.
‘Everything has been concluded. We don’t know anything about the review they are talking about’.
No fewer than 54 serving federal lawmakers, including ranking senators and members of the House of Representatives, failed to secure re-election tickets during the APC primary elections held in May.
Many of the aggrieved aspirants, particularly those who lost out in Lagos, Delta, Zamfara, Kogi, Rivers, Plateau and Osun states, have lodged petitions, threatened legal action and demanded fresh elections.
When asked about reports of the primary election appeal panels set up by the party to address issues raised by aggrieved aspirants across the country, the party chieftain said: ‘From what I have seen, the appeal reports didn’t make any significant changes to the primary elections’ results because a lot of the petitions were found to be frivolous.
‘But any appeal that was well made would have been considered. Some of the appeals are talking about zoning issues, which are pre-primary matters.
‘Some are talking about clearance, that somebody did not properly resign from the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) before joining the APC. Is that a basis to challenge our primaries? Those are examples of frivolous issues people raised in their petitions.
‘There are 109 senatorial districts and 360 House of Representatives constituencies, with thousands of House of Assembly seats. I can tell you that there is no appeal in the majority of these constituencies. So, where is the primary review report coming from? The results to be announced may not be different from what has already been known.
According to findings by Sunday PUNCH, Senator Ned Nwoko of Delta North is challenging the outcome of the APC primary election in which he lost to a former governor of the state, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.
Nwoko is said to be challenging Okowa’s victory on the grounds that Okowa did not resign from the PDP before joining the APC.
Okowa joined the APC on 23 April alongside the state governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, and several other PDP leaders.
Similarly, some aggrieved APC aspirants in Rivers State have reportedly challenged the emergence of Hon. Kingsley Chinda as the party’s governorship candidate. In the buildup to the primary poll, Chinda was the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency.
Apparently referring to the petition against Chinda, the APC official said: ‘Even in the Rivers case, the fact that a particular aspirant’s membership of the party is evidenced by his name on the register is sufficient, regardless of whether he is a minority leader or not.
As far as the register of the APC is concerned, he’s a registered member of our party and he doesn’t need to announce the day he registered his membership after leaving the PDP. When Bukola Saraki resigned from the APC to rejoin the PDP, did he resign as Senate President? In any event, the issue of who is a member of a party is an internal matter. It is the party that will determine who its members are’.
