Ahead of their primaries, All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have released comprehensive list of delegates to participate and elect their Presidential, governorship, National and state House of Assembly candidates during the parties’ conventions and congresses.
The APC has scheduled its primaries for governorship/House of Representatives; Senate/House of Assembly and presidential for May 26, 27, 29 and 30 respectively.
On the other hand, the PDP has settled for May 22 for the House of Assembly, May 23 for the House of Representatives, May 23 for the Senate. Governorship and presidential primaries will hold on May 25 and 28 respectively.
Straightnews gathered that Article 20 of the APC constitution as amended this year provides for the selection of candidates through consensus, direct or indirect primaries, but there are indications that the party will opt for indirect primaries where the aspirants will slug it out.
Read also: As Corruption Bug Hits APC, PDP Counsels Oshiomhole, Demands Action on Ex-Minister
The delegates for the national convention of the APC are members of the National Working Committee (NWC), National Executive Committee (NEC), serving and past presidents and vice presidents who are members of the party, serving and past governors and deputy governors, serving and past members of the National Assembly and all serving members of the states’ Houses of Assembly, past speakers, deputy speakers and other principal officers of the Houses of Assembly.
Others are members of the states working committee, all party chairmen and secretaries of the local government areas/area councils in the country who are members of the party, all elected local government councils/area council chairmen and three elected delegates (at least one whom shall be a woman) from each local government area/area council.
PDP’s constitution also aligns itself with APC in terms of statutory delegates allowing to vote for their aspirants of their choice.
However, the number has been reduced owing to the legal and political quagmire around section 84(8) of the Electoral Act 2022.
Last week, the National Assembly amended the Electoral Act to allow statutory delegates of the 18 registered political parties, including the President, Vice President, National Assemblymen, Governors and Deputy governors, state House of Assemblymen, elected local government chairman, councilors and National Working Committee (NWC) members to participate and vote in the party’s national conventions, congresses, and meetings.
President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to assent to the amended Section 84 (8) of the Electoral Act, which some analysts have said would amount to altering rules of the electoral process in the middle of the game.
The implication is that only the elected delegates could vote at the congresses expected to commence this Saturday.
This is coming at a time the Supreme Court has joined the Rivers State government in a suit seeking its interpretation of the controversial Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
2,340 Delegates to vote for APC Presidential candidate
”Only 2,340 ad-hoc delegates will participate at the forthcoming convention of the ruling APC, to elect the party’s presidential candidate for next year’s election,’’ Straightnews was informed by a delegate.
This is against 7,800 delegates expected to have elected the APC 25 presidential aspirants during its presidential primary on May 29-30.
The ad-hoc delegates will be drawn three apiece from the nation’s 774 local government areas and six area councils of the nation’s capital, Abuja.
The APC on Tuesday inaugurated chairpersons and secretaries of screening committees for state Houses of Assembly Aspirants and special congress committees to elect its local government, state and national delegates.
At the inauguration, the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu who was represented by the Deputy National Chairman, North, Senator Abubakar Kyari said the committees will go to the various states and screen the House of Assembly aspirants, hear appeals after the screening and also conduct congresses to elect a local government, state and national delegates.
“Initially, we were supposed to have two processes but we have decided to combine both exercises so that you all can conduct the exercises one after the other or simultaneously if the situation permits”, he stated.
National Organizing Secretary of the party, Suleiman Muhammad Argungu said the APC leadership would “provide each chairman and secretary of each committee the guidelines that specify roles of the committee which include minimum requirements; APC requirements; educational requirements; payment of form fees which qualifies each aspirant to contest.
“All these and more are in the guidelines that will be given to each group and also, we would provide each group with aspirant assessment verification forms that you will ensure you follow diligently to do justice to each of the aspirants who have purchased forms and submitted”, he added.
Chairman of the Kebbi State Screening Appeals Committee and Director-General, Voice of Nigeria VON, Mr Osita Okechukwu, said three delegates will be elected from each of the nation’s 774 local government areas and six area councils of the FCT.
“We are going to elect five delegates per ward and there are 8,809 wards in the country. Those elected five delegates per ward would go to the state and elect the governor.
“We are going to elect three delegates from each of the 774 local governments, who will elect the president, but the first job is the screening and the delegates would be elected and the delegates would, in turn, elect the governorship and presidential candidates,” he explained.
Okechukwu noted that in all, there are over 3,000 State Assembly aspirants to be screened by the committees.
3,700 delegates to elect PDP Presidential flag-bearer
PDP said 3,700 delegates will participate in the process of electing the party’s flag-bearer among the 15 presidential aspirants slated for May 28 and 29 at MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
For PDP, three ad-hoc delegates elected at the Ward Congresses and National Delegate per local government areas are eligible to participate and vote for other political office seekers.
There are 8,809 electoral wards and 774 local government areas in the country, according to the 2019 general election figures obtained from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
PDP made this known in a statement by its National Organizing Secretary, Hon. Umar M. Nature on Saturday.
The opposition party explained that by Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act, 2022, delegates to vote at the Indirect Primaries and National Convention of political parties to elect candidates for the forthcoming general elections.
The statement partly read “Consequently those qualified and eligible to vote as delegates in the forthcoming Primaries and National Convention of our great Party, the PDP are the three (3) AD-HOC Delegates per ward, elected at the Ward Congresses and one (1) National Delegate per Local Government, elected at the Local Government Area Congresses.
“Furthermore, the NWC wishes to inform our Party members that the State Houses of Assembly Primaries to elect our State House of Assembly candidates, earlier scheduled for Saturday, May 21, 2022 will now hold on Sunday, May 22, 2022 from 8:00 a.m to 12 noon; while the House of Representatives Primaries to elect our House of Representatives candidates will also hold on Sunday, May 22, 2022 from 2:00 pm”.
PDP charged all aspirants, critical stakeholders, leaders and its teeming members to take note.
Already, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Uwemedimo Nwoko, on Wednesday informed a Federal High Court in Abuja that President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the 36 state governors were not eligible to vote in the upcoming primaries of their political parties.
Nwoko was representing 987 delegates who had brought the application seeking to join the suit over the Akwa Ibom ad hoc delegates of the PDP.
Nwoko said the statutory delegates, comprising the executive office holders in Nigeria, were not approved to vote in the primaries because the president was yet to assent to the newly amended Electoral Act.
“Only ad hoc delegates can vote in the primaries,” he said.
But the Senate had carried out an accelerated amendment of section 84(8) of the Electoral Act to include the participation of statutory delegates in the conventions and congresses of political parties.
In opposing the submission, counsel to the PDP faction, Ahmed Raji (SAN), said laws governing political parties included the constitution, the Electoral Act, parties’ constitutions and the relevant guidelines made by the parties.
He said the Electoral Act did not forbid the use of statutory delegates, and the guidelines of the PDP incorporate the use of party delegates.
He said members of the National Assembly were already statutory delegates but only wanted to secure themselves so that party executives would not wake up later and remove them.
Meanwhile, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, while granting the application for joinder, ordered parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum.
The case was adjourned to May 25 for a hearingg.
Northerner is favoured to emerge candidate
The new delegate arrangement will favour the emergence of a Northern candidate unless the APC zones the ticket to the South and takes special measures to produce a Southern candidate.
A breakdown of the 2,340 delegates for the presidential primaries shows that the North has 1,257 delegates while the South has 1,068 delegates.
Also, the North-West zone with seven states and 121 local councils has 558 delegates. It is followed by the South-West, which has six states, 137 local councils and 411 delegates. Both zones account for 979 of the 2,340 delegates.
Going further, the South-South with six states and 123 local councils will have 369 delegates. The fourth zone in terms of delegate strength is North-Central (363 delegates). It has 121 local councils drawn from six states and FCT, Abuja. It is followed by the North-East (336 delegates) with six states and 112 local councils.
The least zone is South-East with five states, 96 local councils and 288 delegates.
Among the 23 presidential aspirants still left in the race for the APC ticket 19 are from the South and four are from the North.
Among the Southern aspirants, eight are from the South-East which has the least number of delegates; seven are from the South-West, and the South-South has four.
In the North, North-West has two while North-East and North-Central have one each.
