Kogiflame
22 governors, 2,322 delegates to determine fate of 23 aspirants
of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election at its National Congress fixed for Abuja on Monday.
According to report, 23 aspirants are “jostling” for the ticket but the party has advised 10 of them to withdraw while more may also step down as we enter the business end of the process.
Uncertainty over delegates
Barely 72 hours to the special convention, the Federal High Court in Kano, on Friday, held that statutory delegates can participate in primaries of political parties in accordance with the Nigerian constitution.
The judge, A.M. Liman, while delivering judgement in a suit filed by Masijde El-Jibrin Gogowa, a legislative aide to Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Habibu Sani and Bilyaminu Shinkafi, said Section 223 of the Nigerian constitution and the APC constitution “allow statutory Delegation (sic) to vote at convention, congress or meeting.”
In the suit filed on May 24, the plaintiffs listed the Senate President, APC National Chairman, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants.
However, the spokesperson of the APC, Felix Morka, told PREMIUM TIMES that the party will not comply with the court judgement because the APC was not joined in the suit.
With the elimination of statutory delegates and the refusal of the president to sign an amendment bill that would have reinstated the statutory delegates, only elected delegates, as provided in Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act, will pick the candidate.
Section 84(8) provides that “a political party that adopts the system of indirect primaries for the choice of its candidate shall clearly outline in its constitution and rule the procedure for the democratic election of delegates to vote at the convention, congress and meeting.”
The national delegates were elected three per local government/area. With 768 local governments and 6 area councils, 2,322 delegates will decide who will become the candidate of the ruling party.
This means that the governors who hold the structures of the party in their states will decide to a large extent who will become the candidate.
APC has 22 governors, and five of them were in the race until the reported withdrawal of Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa Saturday night. The others still in the race are Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Dave Umahi of Ebonyi and Ben Ayade of Cross River.
