At both state and national levels, there are obvious confirmations that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has deliberately murdered sleep since last month with the magnitude of controversies trailing the conduct of its primaries to elect candidates for next year’s general elections.

The ominous signs are already glaringly visible. Apart from the facade and cosmetic ceremonial presentation of the certificate of return to President Bola Tinubu and the automatic re-election tickets to almost all the first-tenure governors, every other action concerning the outcome of the primaries has depressed into an upsetting pause mode.

The anomie within the party has given rise to discomforting thick clouds of uncertainty, an anxious and endless wait by political actors and their supporters, an arrogant posture, and the reluctant and blunt refusal of the confirming authorities to act decisively.

Equally part of the signals for the looming crisis threatening to engulf the ruling party are the cold war between some state governors and certain elements in the presidency, the unending protests, and many other troubling realities on the ground at both the national headquarters and state chapters of the embattled party.

From all indications, the APC is apparently sitting on a keg of gunpowder. The bone of contention is the deliberate delay in the release of the list of candidates that emerged victorious after its primaries and the measures on the best way to pacify aggrieved aspirants, which have been schemed out almost one month after the exercise.

The wait has transformed from hope to despair, happiness to anger, trust to mistrust, dialogue to protest, and certainty to uncertainty, yet the confirming authorities have looked insensitively unruffled and unyielding to the agonising dispositions of the aspirants.

To worsen the plight of aspirants who have agonisingly waited since the primary elections, the uncomplimentary utterances by the eggheads of the party’s national leadership, particularly the National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, and the National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, have certainly exacerbated their anxieties and grievances.

The party’s chief scribe, Senator Basiru, shocked many aspirants, party members, and political watchers with his undemocratic remarks in a trending video, alluding that some aspirants only wasted their time and resources participating in the primaries when in reality the ruling party does not believe in democratic process.

Speaking largely in Yoruba in the video footage, Senator Basiru stated explicitly that the final decision of who ultimately flies the APC’s flag as candidate in the forthcoming elections will be determined by the National Working Committee (NWC). He added in a deriding manner that primaries are just for formalities, warning those complaining about the outcome of the exercise that irrespective of who was declared winner, the party’s leadership still reserves the power to endorse candidates.

“As for those who will get the senatorial seats and even the presidency, we are the ones who will nominate and endorse them. If you say a candidate didn’t win, we are still the ones who will endorse and sign them. They are just playing. We don’t conduct primaries in our party; we choose whoever we want to choose. Even when we conduct primaries, it is just eye service because we all know you don’t become a party candidate through primaries,” Basiru stated in the video.

Interestingly, despite the deluge of outraged online comments and reactions that trailed his remarks, the party’s leadership unrepentantly cared less whether their utterances could worsen the party’s internal democracy or the credibility of the candidate selection process.

In a show of the height of insensitivity, APC national chairman Yilwatda, who has repeatedly stirred up a hornet’s nest with unguarded utterances, took it to the zenith whilst cautioning protesters at the party’s national secretariat last week, saying that their action clearly contravened the rules of engagement for the conduct of party primaries.

He specifically reminded them of the illegality of anybody who did not participate in the party primary engaging in any form of protest over the outcome of the exercise, explaining that the most viable option left for aggrieved aspirants, according to the amended Electoral Act, is to petition the party’s Primary Elections Appeal Committee to review their cases.

While crashing the hopes of the aggrieved aspirants further, Yilwatda boldly warned that even as they can explore such an option, the duration window for filing a petition against the outcome of primaries, in line with the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), elapsed since 30 May.

“Legally, only individuals who actually participated as an aspirant in the internal elections have the locus standi to dispute the outcomes,” he said whilst confronting the protesters, adding: “Are you aware that legally, based on the Electoral Act, it is only the aspirants that are supposed to lodge complaints and challenge the process of the election? In simple terms, they are the ones that can challenge the process of the election.”

The APC chairman advised them to direct their principals to utilise the party’s established internal conflict resolution mechanisms, but cautioned that any valid grievance must strictly meet the statutory timelines, emphasising: “I urge you to advise the aspirants to go and write a petition that they were unjustly treated. And that was supposed to be submitted to the Appeal Committee.”

“We will forward your petition to the legal unit to treat them if they are amongst those people who submitted within the timeline, because we have to be law-abiding as a party,” he quipped, almost foreclosing any hope for the aggrieved aspirants.

The comments from the APC’s boss incontrovertibly confirmed that things have disappointingly fallen apart in the ruling party since the conduct of the primaries, making the centre very difficult to hold any longer.

The arrogant posture of the party’s leadership is a clear case of their refusal to learn from history. Nomination of candidates and primary election discrepancies, with far-reaching implications, was the trap which consumed predecessors like Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Abdullahi Adamu after the 2019 and 2023 general elections, respectively.

To underscore the magnitude of the precarious situation facing the party over the blunt refusal of its leadership to release the official list of legislative candidates, the situation has fuelled speculations and suspicion that there are deceptive underhand dealings to manipulate the outcome of the primary elections.

The nature of the apprehension is such that a significant number of the aspirants who emerged victorious at the primaries are not even certain of making it when the final list is eventually released.

There have been allegations of huge sums of money, running into millions and billions in both foreign and local currencies, exchanging hands, alongside hi-tech manipulations to scheme out certain aspirants who paid less or did not secure the endorsements of state governors, despite spending humongous amounts of money to purchase the expression of interest and nomination forms.

Some of the aspirants have equally fallen victim to the intense power play between some state governors and certain persons in the presidency, as in Kogi State and by extension the national leadership of the party, yet the coast seems very unclear over who will finally get the final nod when the list is released.

The reality is that apart from the Governor of Rivers State, Sim Fubara, who voluntarily withdrew from participating in the primary, legislators are obviously the worst set of persons caught up in the web, as no fewer than 40 senators were unable to win their return tickets.

To ventilate their anger during a protest at the party’s headquarters last week, angry protesters, in a petition submitted to the party’s chairman, warned: “We are deeply disturbed by the widespread allegations surrounding the conduct of the purported primary election, including claims of irregularities, lack of transparency, exclusion of legitimate delegates, political interference, manipulation of the process, and the alleged imposition of preferred candidates against the wishes of party members.”

However, judging by the statistics released by the party’s chairman, the primary exercise is not completely gloomy for both the aspirants and the party. Prof. Yilwatda told a British Government delegation that paid a courtesy visit on him that the primary election was such a huge success that only a minimal number of petitions were received out of the 6,000 aspirants who purchased nomination forms and participated in the primary exercise across various levels.

Passing a resounding vote of confidence on the party’s internal democratic processes, he triumphantly announced: “We had more than 6,000 party members that participated in our primaries across different levels, but less than three per cent of the outcomes generated petitions. This demonstrates that the process was largely peaceful, transparent and widely accepted. We are the reference point for other political parties. They observe our processes and often replicate our innovations and practices.”

Prof. Yilwatda was also quick to disclose the measures the party’s leadership has instituted, explaining: “We have activated our various internal conflict resolution and reconciliation mechanism channels for aggrieved aspirants to explore and ventilate their grievances. We have the Council of Elders Committee, the Party Conflict Resolution Committee and the Presidential Conflict Resolution Committee, to intervene and pacify the petitioners aggrieved over the outcome of our primary elections.”

Corroborating his claims and downplaying the gravity of the situation, the party’s National Welfare Officer, Donatus Nwamkpa, assured the Daily Sun in a chat that the ruling party would come out of the perilous circumstances stronger and more united.

“Already, the Elders Council has started reaching out to aggrieved aspirants and their supporters to pacify them. At the level of the party’s national leadership, we have equally triggered internal conflict resolution measures to ensure that the situation does not degenerate into the aggrieved aspirants embarking on litigations to express their grievances.

“We have equally encouraged reconciliatory efforts at the state levels to reach out to the aggrieved persons. I can assure you that the situation will not escalate more than this. I have no iota of doubt that our party will certainly come out of this stronger and even more united,” Hon. Nwamkpa, a former Abia State House of Assembly Speaker, assured.

But miffed by the uncertainties, looming legal threats, and the despondence of the senators caught in the crossfire by the primaries, President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, took time to pacify his colleagues at the resumption of plenary last week, assuring them that all hopes are not lost and that their futures have not been sealed.

Although he later recanted, Senator Akpabio had, whilst assuring his colleagues who lost their tickets of efforts to address the situation, said: “In this Senate, we have promised that we will have very few disappointments, and I do know that the Senate leader and the leadership of the Senate are working very hard towards that, so in advance, I will say congratulations to all of us across party lines.”

However, in his recantation after perhaps buckling under pressure last weekend, Akpabio distanced himself from the reports in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, insisting that his remarks were misconstrued.

“What the President of the Senate actually said, in the course of interacting with his colleagues, was to empathise with senators who were affected negatively by the outcome of their primary elections. Senator Akpabio remains committed to party discipline, due process, and the internal mechanisms of the APC for resolving disputes. He will not interfere with the autonomous processes of the party or make commitments that are outside the purview of the National Assembly leadership,” the statement read.

Regardless of the antidotes put in place to diffuse the tensed atmosphere, there are still negative indices that the persisting cold war between certain elements in the presidency and the state governors over the choice of candidates may result in heads rolling and force many to opt for anti-party activities to express their grievances.

To further confirm the cloud of uncertainty, stakeholders, whilst warning the authorities that ignoring the brewing anger amongst party faithful could severely hurt the ruling party’s chances at the general polls, noted: “We consider it unacceptable that a process intended to reflect the democratic choice of delegates has become the subject of serious controversy and widespread rejection.”

“Democracy cannot thrive where electoral outcomes are perceived to be predetermined. Political parties must remain institutions of participation, competition, accountability, and fairness,” they warned. (The Sun)

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