Concerned elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State have called for adoption of direct primary (an election in which voters choose candidates to run on a party’s ticket in a subsequent election for public office, without the use of delegates) to avoid a repeat of the crisis that attended the party’s gubernatorial primary last Saturday.
In a communiqué they signed after a meeting, the elders said they favoured direct primary because “the members of the party should have equal rights to express their will as to who should be the flag bearer of their party in the Ekiti gubernatorial race. Direct primary will achieve this. Delegate primary has been highly compromised as witnessed last Saturday and doing it again exposes the party to repeating the same mistake only at a greater level.
“The NWC itself has shown bias and given that delegate primary is more susceptible to its manipulation, especially since it is secret ballot of selected delegates and in selection of officials to administer the same. Direct primary provides a counter balance to NWC biased influence.
“Direct primary provides an easier and cheaper option since it will be on decentralised basis and it will be Option A4 with no ballot papers printed, just result sheets and minimal security.
“Candidates will be able to canvass more widely and less likely to have opportunities for circumventing the democratic process either with bribes.”
According to the elders, “The demand of Ekiti is direct primary as evidenced by the way the aspirants voted at the SW leader caucus meeting. Any other plan implemented will be unsafe and dangerous even for our party officials. We must be cautious. The situation is tense in Ekiti today and no security guarantees can be provided to any position that counters the position of our elders and the candidates that met them.”
The concerned citizens also noted with dismay the irregularities that preceded last Saturday’s botched primaries, including the alleged “shoddy arrangements by the organising committee, lack of clear guidelines by the primary committee, the conflict of interest of its members, use of levers of violence and security agencies at the primary
grounds and violation of secret ballot rules including evidence of primary delegates compromised by bribes, threats and intimidation.”
“We also note with dismay the incoherent response of the NWC of the party, which seems to be acting at cross purposes with the state executives who had their offices invaded by thugs as well as statements issued seemingly in coordination with one particular candidate to the detriment of others. We also note that one or two NWC members have since claimed no meetings to discuss Ekiti post primary has been held which further puts to test the claim of NWC’s impartiality and ability to constitute an even-handed primary committee now and in the future,” they said.
The elders also commended the intervention of the Southwest leaders on the instruction of President Muhammadu Buhari on the crisis in Ekiti.
“We enjoin the NWC to do the right thing and toe the path of honour and respect Ekiti for the collective benefit of our party. They cannot love
Ekiti better than Ekitians and their regional leaders.
We plead for the voice of reason. We enjoin that our President and voices of our National Leader must be respected and not embarrassed. Let us make
Ekiti State APC stronger not weaker,” they said.
The communiqué was signed by Segun Ajibulu, Ekiti North senatorial district; Odetola (Odelodu) – Ekiti North senatorial district; Olu Oyewole Akewi, Ekiti North senatorial district; Ambassador M. Onipede, Ekiti South senatorial district; Hon. Femi Adeleye, Ekiti North senatorial district, and Bode Adetunji, Ekiti Central district.
Others are Tope Omoshilade, Ekiti Central senatorial district; Pastor Egbeyemi, Ekiti Central senatorial district; Hon. Funmilola Adeyemo, Ekiti Central senatorial district and Kehinde Olokeshusi, South senatorial district.
