The recommendations of the Senator Oserhiemen Osunbor’s Appeal Committee to give justice to aggrieved aspirants in the All Progressives Congress, APC over perceived irregularities in the conduct of party primaries may be consign to dustbin.
National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was reported to have expressed misgiving over the lateness of the report during the meeting of the National Working Committee, NWC of the party on Wednesday.
Oshiomhole had while receiving the report of the Senator Osunbor-led Appeals Committee was reported to have amiteed that the committee’s report was advisory.
The basis of the assertion by the party chairman and party’s operatives was the October 7, deadline given by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for the conduct of party primaries and resolution of internal party disputes. It was stressed that anything done after that day by the party or upon the advice of the committee would be seen as having violated the INEC stipulations.
All those who emerged by October 7 have been given the INEC Form CF001 which they are to be filled by the candidates. The party is to fill the Form CF002.
All such forms pertaining to the presidential and National Assembly elections are to be submitted latest today.
Vanguard gathered that the Osunbor Appeals Committee had reviewed the circumstances pertaining to some of the issues raised by aggrieved aspirants and made recommendations to the National Working Committee, NWC.
However, no matter how justified the recommendations may be, the NWC, Vanguard gathered, was set to discard them for the purpose of not attracting litigations to the party.
In one of the recommendations, the Osunbor Committee it was gathered had reviewed the appeal by Acho Obioma that he won the Abia Central Senatorial primaries but that the election panel gave the result to Senator Nkechi Nwogu.
The Osunbor Committee it was gathered recommended that the ticket be given to Nwogu. Vanguard however , gathered that the implementation of the recommendation is impossible because as at end of October 7, Nwogu’s name was what was there.
“That is just one example. Whether there was justice or not, if your name is not there as the winner by October 7, there is no way under the law that they can submit your name because that would mean a violation of the regulations and put the party into litigation,” a source privy to the developments in Abuja said yesterday.
The APC and the PDP had in a bid to outsmart the other put their primaries to near the deadline stipulated by INEC for the conclusion and resolution of internal disputes at October 7. The parties had in doing so aimed to limit the other from reaping from crises arising from the primaries.
Before now, the parties would have made provisions for the Appeal Committees to work and submit their recommendations within the framework given by INEC for the conclusion of party primaries.
The APC appeal committee was constituted after the deadline stipulated by INEC and submitted its report only on October 16 more than one week after the deadline given by INEC for the conclusion of all internal issues regarding the primaries.
