APC shifts Lagos, Imo guber primaries to Independence Day

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has shifted its governorship primary elections for Lagos and Imo states to Monday, October 1.

Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the APC, said this at the inauguration of committees which would conduct the party’s primaries across the country.

The exercise was meant to hold on Sunday.

But Oshiomhole cited “logistic challenges” as reason for the shift of the exercise in the two states.

“We have decided to postpone the election in Lagos to Monday even though it is public holiday, there is nothing in the law that says we cannot conduct our party affairs on the day of public holidays,” the chairman said.

“So, Lagos and Imo states for now, the exercise will take place on Monday.

“We are sure that we will be able to rectify logistic challenges between now and end of ‪tomorrow‬. For those going to those States, please take note.

“The secretariat will get to the committees through the chairmen, the documents and all the materials you need – be it ballot papers, result sheets that you will use for the election.”

Oshiomhole said 177 aspirants are seeking to emerge as governorship aspirants.

“We have only 29 vacancies for governors and to fill these 29 vacancies, we have distinguished Nigerians, men and women, about 177 that applied. This does not suggest any unusual level of political or executive unemployment. It just points to the level of interest, commitment, passion and above all the confidence that people have in the APC,” Oshiomhole said.

“We have tried as much as we can to carry out a thorough screening exercise in way that will enable us to benefit from the recent things that have happened in our party that some of us believe that we can learn some positive lessons from there and we have heard of the implications of such actions and reviewed the way in which we select people who contest elections on our platforms.

“We have to work consciously to move our party from a mere public taxi that people who are political stranded can board and when they get to their destinations, they pay fees if they are kind enough to pay or they just jump out of the car and then we wait for the next passenger. We have to build a mass movement that is grounded in the hearts of the Nigerian people, membership-driven and to do that we must service our internal democracy.

“We have to move away from top-down approach to decision making and develop a bottom-top approach so that the ordinary Nigerian who is a member of our party will have a sense of ownership, involvement, participation and equation.”