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You do not have candidates – INEC No, we have – APC
By Nsikan Ikpe
Controversy has trailed the purported conduct of primaries by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in Zamfara State.
The Zamfara State chapter of the party has been severely factionalized between forces loyal to incumbent Governor, Abdulaziz Yari and several other leaders of the APC from the state which include a leading senator from the state, Kabiru Marafa.
Building on this state of rupture, both factions had gone ahead to conduct factional primaries that the Independent National Elections Commission has since refused to recognize, insisting that as far as it is concerned no primaries were conducted lawfully in the state by the commission since it did not monitor it.
The INEC position was communicated to the APC National chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole by its acting National Secretary, Mr Okechukwu Ndeche.
Responding however, Oshiomhole on Wednesday outlined the party’s position that it indeed held proper primaries at the City King Hotel in Gusau, Zamfara State where candidates reportedly emerged by consensus.
Political watchers say that the challenge now is for the APC to prove that the said primaries it clains it conducted were indeed monitored by INEC since the monitoring exercise is a lawful requirement that must be met by any party holding and conducting valid primaries.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman
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