Uncertainty revolving APC presidential primary as court rules on statutory delegates

The formation of delegates to run for president of the ruling All Progressives Congress on June 6, 2022 is still controversial as the Kano Federal High Court on Friday ruled that Section 84 of the Electoral Act did not preclude it. legal delegates in voting.
Last month the National Assembly amended Section 84 (8) of the Electoral Act to allow automatic or official delegates to vote in the primaries. This is based on the definition that Section 84 (8) only allows elected delegates to participate in primaries. But the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (sitting), refused to sign the amendment.
Article 8, which still stands, reads, “A political party that accepts an indirect primaries for a candidate will clearly set out in its constitution and govern the electoral process of delegates who will vote in a conference, congress or conference.”
The official delegates, the amendments they sought to include in the Electoral Act, included senior members of the party and elected members of the public.
At the APC, the delegates include the President, Deputy President Yemi Osinbajo, sitting with former members of the National Assembly, former governors and their deputies, members of the National Executive Committee, chairmen of the state and secretaries, local government chairpersons, their deputies, councilors and party chairpersons. of 774 local governments.
But with a suit labeled FHC / KN / CS / 137/2022 founded by a former lawyer, Senator Mas’Ud Doguwa; along with two others, Habibu Sani and Billiamin Shinkafi, plaintiffs in the first summons have asked the court to determine whether Section 84 (8) of the Act actually prohibits lawmakers from voting.
Those listed as respondents to the suit are the President of the Senate, the National Chairperson of the APC, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Delivering the verdict in the case, Justice Abdullahi Liman said, “That Section 84 (8) cannot be interpreted as excluding official delegates from voting at a meeting, conference or meeting due to Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section. (Iv) (c) of the constitution of the All Progressives Congress, which allows official delegates to vote at a general meeting, congress or conference. ”
Already, the APC has selected three delegates each from 774 local government districts in the country and six local councils in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, bringing a total of 2,340 delegates.
The program is believed to have put strategic regions like Lagos at a disadvantage as it has only 20 LGAs and will only have 60 delegates, while a country like Kano, with 44 LGAs, will have 132 delegates.
If official delegates are allowed to vote, the number of delegates is expected to increase to 7,800 and Lagos State is ranked in the top four along the Kano, Katsina and Osun counties.
Efforts to get a response from the APC appeared to be in vain as the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, did not respond to calls or text messages sent to him on Friday.
We will still get a court order – INEC
Meanwhile, INEC said on Friday it had not yet received a court decision.
Kayode Oyekanmi, a spokesman for INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, told one of our correspondents in the interview that he was unaware of the decision.
If the court rules today (Friday), I am not sure it has reached our headquarters. Once there, it will be processed on a regular basis. INEC complies with court decisions. Note that the main business is political parties. What INEC does is monitor the system and ensure that it complies with existing laws; Election law and constitution. ”
The panel is silent on the 10 candidates
Meanwhile, the party’s presidential election committee released its report on Friday.
The committee’s chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who sent a report to APC National chairman Senator Abdullahi Adamu, said only 13 of the 23 candidates had submitted their tests.
Oyegun, the party’s former national chairman, said, “The basic constitutional doctrine of aspiring to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is simple and straightforward. And on that basis, everyone who wished to express themselves was worthy, because it was basic and simple.
He said, “But we are the ruling party and we are determined to continue the process and remove, in due course, our President and include another member of the party. Therefore, leadership ability, background, experience, understanding of the Nigerian situation, ideas on how problems, difficulties and problems can be solved, and how the country can move forward, became critical considerations.
“It was on that basis – who you are, what you have achieved, what your understanding of the nation is and what you think you can contribute to the nation going forward – that is why we made our final list.
“I do not want to count the words. I’ll leave that to you. But we do have a short list, which greatly reduced the number to 13. We could have slowed it down a bit, but we wanted the genealogy to come up with smaller elements, so that they could be seen, recognized, and known. ? We are handing them over to the party and you are the party that will decide who will run in the election. ”
Oyegun said the screening committee contacted all parties to the agreement and said 99% of them had agreed except for one, who said they would only agree if it appeared to be the one entering into the agreement.
The chairman of the committee said in his presentation, “One of the things I must emphasize is that we have consulted with all parties to the agreement and it is surprising that 98 percent to 99 percent.

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