Ahead of the March 26th National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party’s governors have said they would back whoever President Muhammadu Buhari supported.
The governors came up with this resolution on Wednesday after a meeting with President Buhari at the State House in Abuja.
Led by the chairman of the interim committee of the party and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, the governors said they have straightened out decisions ahead of the March 26 convention.
Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, told State House correspondents that Buhari had last month indicated that he was in favour of the consensus mode for selecting candidates for the party’s national positions.
According to Bagudu, that was the reason the governors would support any process that would lead to a consensus.
President Buhari in January 2022 refused to assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill after the National Assembly presented it to him, stating that he will only sign when adjustments have been made to have the bill include consensus candidacy and indirect primary options to the mode of selecting a candidate for an election.
This was as against the initial direct primary which was stipulated as the only option to conduct primaries by political parties.
Following this, the National Assembly passed a harmonized version of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The reworked version showed an agreement between the Senate and House of Representatives with regards to the amendment to Clause 84 of the bill.
The re-amended act now includes the direct, indirect, and consensus primary modes of nominating candidates by political parties for elections.
