Prior to the November 25 election, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, revealed on Tuesday that the party would rather have a consensus candidate than an unpopular one for the Anambra gubernatorial ticket.
In order to spare the Anambra APC the stress and cost burden associated with holding a traditional primary election to choose a candidate, Ganduje also promised to deliver an award to the party if they could come together and produce a consensus candidate.
This was revealed by the former governor of Kano State when he hosted Booth 2 Booth, an APC support group led by Bola Tinubu, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Ganduje asked supporters of the ticket not to destabilize the state while promising that his leadership would guarantee a legitimate and fair primary election in Anambra.
“All our stakeholders are supposed to be born again if we are to have a good primary in the state,” he stated. The aspirants are wealthy and well-educated. However, we’ve informed them that things won’t be the same this time. Let’s help the system.
We are aware of their enormous wealth. However, they shouldn’t disperse the state with the funds. The funds ought to be used to advance the APC and the state. In fact, I would give them an award and be quite interested if they could come up with a nominee by consensus.
You bring up the choice between direct and indirect primary. I promise that as an organization, we will consult with the National Working Committee and the state party leadership to determine the most effective primary strategy.
Iyke Madu, the group’s national coordinator, had earlier informed the National Working Committee that they would only be willing to collaborate if the primary election winner was determined by a legitimate method.
“We are here to request that a credible, free, free, and transparent primary be held in Anambra State,” he stated. This is to avoid the mistakes of 2021, when the results of the primary elections were revealed in hotel rooms and a candidate who received 300,000 votes in the primaries was unable to get even 50,000 votes against other parties in the main election.
Insecurity in Anambra is another problem. Due to insecurity, even the state administration is currently unable to hold its own local government elections. Therefore, all we are asking is that the party use an indirect primary technique. That is covered by our constitution.