The National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Felix Morka, made it clear yesterday that the ruling party only sold 28 nomination forms for the presidency, while 133 forms were bought by people who want to run for governor.
Morka said that as of yesterday, 25 of the 28 presidential forms that had been sold had been sent back. However, he did not know how many of the 133 gubernatorial forms had been sent back.
He denied that the extension of the APC’s primaries and the use of Eagle Square in Abuja for the processer meant to intimidate the opposition.
Morka said on The Morning Show on Arise News Channel, “We had 28 people who wanted to run for president buy forms, but only 25 of them turned them back in and submitted them. Now, 133 forms have been bought for the governorship, but I don’t know how many people have returned them.
Morka said that the APC had not yet chosen its presidential candidate.
He said, “Every member of the party has rights. They have the right to dream and the right to help others dream.” That’s a freedom we value, and it’s written in the Constitution that they can hang out with or vote for any candidate they want.
“But on the issue of zoning, and to be honest, I’m on our party’s National Working Committee (NWC), and I haven’t been in on any conversations that led to decisions about zoning. We haven’t decided anything about zoning yet.
“So, all of those reports are just guesses. They have nothing to do with what our party has decided because we haven’t decided anything yet.” The party will decide, and when they do, I think everyone will know where they stand and should act accordingly.
When asked about the request to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for more time, he said, “It’s not just the APC. All the other parties asked INEC for more time, but the request hasn’t been granted yet.” Now, the reason is that we don’t feel like we’re the only ones under pressure because of these tight deadlines. It’s also known by other people.
“So, yes, a little bit of extra time would be helpful, but we can’t be sure that INEC will make that decision. We were hoping they would, though, because if they did, it wouldn’t change the Electoral Act’s deadlines much hehe timelines we’re working with right now come from INEC’s own rules and not the Electoral Act.
“So, there’s a little bit of wiggle room if INEC wanted to give just a couple of weeks or even a month of extension, which would be very helpful to relieve some of the pressure we’re feeling right now. But, no matter what, I think we are working hard to meet the deadlines set by INEC.
“We are not playing mind games with anyone on the other side. We made the changes based on a very realistic assessment of where we are in the process of documenting for INEC.” As you know, INEC has set very strict deadlines by which parties must send their lists of candidates for the next elections.
“And on our side, we have a lot of internal things to work out before that. So we just give them a little bit more time so we can finish these steps in a way that guarantees if you will, the integrity of the information we give them.
On the use of Eagle Square as a convention site, he said, “We are not in the business of bullying anyone, and I am sure that our friends on the other side will not admit that they were bullied. But the truth is that, yes, I’m aware that Eagle Square is one of the places we’re looking at, but I can’t say for sure right now if that’s the place where our presidential convention will be held.
- Tags: 2023 Elections, APC, APC primaries
