Anxiety and confusion have gripped aspirants vying for the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives tickets, following the party’s failure to release official guidelines hours before tomorrow’s shadow elections.
The tense situation is further compounded by a cloud of secrecy surrounding the eligibility of the contestants, reports The Nation.
Nearly 12 hours to the commencement of the rescheduled polls, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has kept the outcome of the three-day nationwide screening exercise under wraps.
The lower chamber primary elections, originally slated for today, Friday, May 15, were abruptly shifted to tomorrow via a late-night statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka.
While no official reason was provided for the postponement, Morka noted that the timelines for the Senate, House of Assembly, Governorship, and Presidential primaries remain unchanged.
According to the official schedule released by the National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Muhammad Argungu, the results of the screening exercise were meant to be published on Monday, May 11, to allow a two-day window for appeals.
However, none of these scheduled milestones have been met, leaving aspirants completely in the dark regarding whether they have been cleared or disqualified.
Compounding the logistical nightmare, polling officials deployed from the National Secretariat to conduct the elections across the country have admitted to being stranded without administrative blueprints.
“We were not given any guidelines,” election officials in six different states unanimously disclosed under anonymity.
Efforts to reach the party’s leadership for clarity proved abortive, as official telephone calls went unanswered and messages were not returned.
Insiders reveal that the current crisis stems from a fierce, nationwide pushback by party members and aspirants against the NWC’s initial plan to adopt a consensus mode of selection.
A source close to the NWC confided that the party’s highest administrative organ was blindsided by the scale of the resistance, forcing a frantic, last-minute policy shift toward direct primaries.
“The NWC had to beat a retreat by yielding to the opposition to the consensus mode,” the source hinted. “That was why they backpedaled and directed that the direct primary should be adopted where aspirants and stakeholders cannot agree.”
Insiders believe this abrupt operational shift is the primary reason the House of Representatives election was delayed by 24 hours.
Under the direct primary system, all registered party members are eligible to participate, though sources indicate that only those who have paid their monthly membership dues for the last four years will be permitted to vote.
The prolonged silence on screening results has raised eyebrows among stakeholders, with many alleging a deliberate attempt to stifle the internal democratic appeal process.
An aggrieved aspirant from Benue State expressed his frustration during a telephone interview, describing the situation as a calculated political ambush.
“This is 4:30 PM on Friday; I am up for an election tomorrow and I still do not know if I have been cleared,” the aspirant lamented. “This is a ploy to ambush some aspirants, especially those disqualified. I reliably gathered that we shall only get to know those cleared through the lists handed to the officials conducting the election.”
He further criticised the party’s deviation from standard electoral protocols:
“I became curious when the party failed to give us the guidelines for the election when we purchased the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms. The usual practice in the past was that you get the guidelines the moment you pick up the form. That was not the case this time.”
As the clock ticks down to today’s crucial legislative primaries, the political fate of hundreds of APC aspirants hangs delicately in the balance.
According to the party’s extant timetable, the Senate primaries are scheduled for Monday, May 18; House of Assembly on Wednesday, May 20; Governorship on Thursday, May 21; and the process will climax with the Presidential Primary on Saturday, May 23.
