Stakeholders Forum of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe State has called for adoption of direct primaries for the forthcoming primary elections to elect the party’s candidates.
The group in a protest letter addressed to the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole and made available to newsmen Friday in Gombe, said the decision of the state executive committee to adopt indirect elections was made by only few members of the party without consulting major stakeholders.
The letter signed by secretary of the forum’s steering committee, Barrister Abdul-Ghaniy M. Bello, stated that the resolution for indirect primaries by few members is unpopular and without support of the vast majority of the party members.
“It is also illegal because of a High Court ruling which nullified the mini congress held in Gombe in October 2017 to elect eight members to the vacant positions in the state working committee, for the offices of chairman, deputy chairman, secretary, legal adviser, youth leader and three other officers,” he said.
Barrister Bello further stated that the participation of the said officials in the ward, local and congresses which held in May is not only illegal but null and void.
Therefore, the stakeholders recommended that the national secretariat of the party should appoint an independent electoral committee to conduct a direct election for the forthcoming primary elections, “to avoid a situation where the outcome of the elections to be conducted shall be declared null and void by a court in view of its earlier ruling.”
