The refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act amendment bill that would have permitted statutory delegates to vote has altered the voting strength of some states.
Section 12.1 of the All Progressives Congress (APC) constitution says members of the national convention shall include members of the board of trustees, national chairman and all members of the national executive committee, serving and past presidents, vice presidents, serving and past governors and deputy governors who are members of the party, serving and former members of the National Assembly, members of the state working committees, all local government chairmen along with three elected delegates from each of the 774 local government areas.
This came to the fore on Monday as the party again shifted it senatorial primary from May 26 to May 27.
With the President’s refusal to sign the bill, the number of delegates has dropped from 7, 800 to about 2, 340. The 2,340 consist of three delegates from each of the 774 local governments in the country and six area councils in Abuja.
Lagos, which has one of the largest number of statutory delegates due to its large number of APC public officials, will now be left with 60 delegates because it has just 20 local government areas.
Lagos, which ideally should have 304 delegates, was in the top five only behind Kano, Katsina, Borno and Osun. However, with only 60 delegates, Lagos is now 19th.
Also, states that have a low APC membership or that are governed by the Peoples Democratic Party but have a large number of local governments will now have an advantage over Lagos.
For instance, Akwa Ibom which has 31 LGAs, Oyo which has 33 LGAs and Rivers and Sokoto which both have 23 LGAs each, will now have more delegates at the presidential primary than Lagos.
Borno, which should have the third highest number of delegates due to its large number of serving and former elected APC members, will now have a lower number of delegates than Akwa Ibom and Oyo because it has 27 LGAs. Essentially, Borno has also fallen from having the third highest number of delegates to having the fifth highest.
However, it was observed that Kano, Katsina and Osun retained their lead by virtue of the large number of local government areas that they possess. Kano, which has 44 LGAs will have 132 delegates while Katsina with 34 LGAs will have 102 elected delegates. This also applies to Osun State which has 30 LGAs and will thus have 90 delegates.
It was learnt that 15 states combined have the total strength to determine the outcome of the presidential election. They are Kano (132), Katsina (102), Akwa Ibom (93), Oyo (99), Osun (90), Jigawa (81), Imo (81), Borno (81), Delta (75), Rivers (69), Sokoto (69), Benue (66), Anambra (63), Adamawa (63) and Kebbi (62) with a combined 1, 224 delegates.
The APC chieftain in Lagos State, Chief Joe Igbokwe, said it was unfortunate that Lagos had fallen on the pecking order due to the exclusion of statutory delegates.
Igbokwe said he was confident that the party would look into the matter with a view to making adjustments.
He, however, said he was confident that Bola Tinubu would emerge victorious regardless of the calculation.
“Lagos is too important to be put in such a position because of the exclusion of statutory delegates. We are hopeful that the party will look into the matter. But we are not perturbed. We are confident that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win. There is a lot of gang up against the man but he is the only one that can win the election for the APC. Igbokwe said.
On his part, a political Analyst and Professor of Political Science at Bayero University Kano, Kamilu Fage, said the new system had taken away the advantage the executive enjoyed.
Fage, however, admitted that the new system might not offer a fair representation of the states at the presidential primary.
“You will see that based on the number of local government per state some will have high number of delegates while some will have very low. States may not be properly represented based on this,” he stated.
The professor argued that all hope was not lost for aspirants, noting that the highest bidder among them would emerge as the party’s standard bearer.
Also APC chieftain, Dr. Osita Okechukwu, said the new system of using only ad hoc delegates would not stop the most popular aspirant from emerging victorious.
Okechukwu, who is the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, said the party had not yet decided on the mode of primaries it would adopt, adding that the APC could also use direct or the consensus method.
He added, “The party has not told us which mode they want to adopt. So, it then means that the issue of whether section 84 was signed into law has as an impact. So the options are very open. But even if they do indirect, it is even in the interest of the candidates that you have a fewer delegates to contend with. I think so myself. Whichever way you look at it, if you have fewer delegates to contend with, it is better for you.
“The fact that a given state has a larger number of delegates does not mean that that number cannot go to someone from another state.”
Responding, Osun APC Director of Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said the party’s Presidential primary was basically an issue based on the dictates of the law.
Attempts to get a response from the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, proved abortive as he did not respond to calls on Monday.
Meanwhile, Buhari will on Wednesday meet the 25 Presidential aspirants. The meeting is expected to take place a day after the Presidential screening at the party which takes place on Tuesday (today).
It was learnt the President would be meeting all of the aspirants this week with a view to fostering unity and promoting a consensus.
It was learnt that the party would be open to refunding money spent by some aspirants that step down.
“The president will be meeting with all the aspirants on Wednesday. It has become imperative for the presidency to plead with them to settle for the party’s consensus candidate,” said a party source.
On Monday the APC National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Argungu, said the postponement of the screening became necessary as the screening panel had not been constituted.
This is even as the national organising secretary disclosed that a seven-man panel, comprising a member from each of the six geo-political zones, would be set up by the National Working Committee to undertake the screening.
While his excuse for the screening postponement may appear tenable, a source in the secretariat told our correspondent that the said constitution of screening panels is just a smoke screen.
According to him, it is part of the grand plan of the party to put its house and compel the presidential aspirants to buy into proposed consensus talks. – Punch.
