27th August, 2015
The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday, said there would be no automatic endorsements for any candidate in its primaries for the Kogi elections.
The APC National Organising Secretary, Sen. Osita Izunaso, said this in Abuja at the inauguration of a seven-man committee that will oversee the party primaries to elect the flag-bearer for the Nov. 29 gubernatorial elections in Kogi.
Izunaso advised the committee to hold stakeholders meeting and prepare well by informing the security agencies that would participate in the election.
According to him, the chairman of the committee will be the returning officer for the election primaries, adding that the exercise will not be stopped half way.
“Once you start the accreditation, you cannot postpone, once you commence, you must complete and the winners will be announced on the spot.
“It is not something you will go and compile and come back, it is not allowed, and the aspirant with the highest number of votes shall then be declared the winner.
“I want you to bear in mind, there is nothing like endorsement, maybe somebody will say he has been endorsed, there is nothing like that whatsoever, it is the people that will choose.
“You should hold a stakeholders meeting first and introduce yourselves.
“The party also requests that you reach out to security agencies like the SSS, the police and other security agencies upon arrival in
Kogi so that they won’t say they were not informed,” he advised.
Izunaso, who observed that there were human errors in similar exercises conducted in the past, urged the committee to ensure that such lapses were checked in the forthcoming primaries.
The committee members include, Sen. Magnus Abe, who will serve as Secretary, other members are Alhaji Ibrahim Sarki, Mrs Omorogie Osifor, Mr Mohammad Wali, Mr Lanre Asiwaju and Mr Greg Egwu.
Inaugurating the committee, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who was represented by the APC Deputy Chairman North, Sen. Lawan Shaibu said that members of the committee were carefully chosen, adding that they were all credible.
In another development, the party on Wednesday began the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms for the Bayelsa governorship elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first to pick the expression of interest form was former Christopher Enai.
Enai, a-one time House of Representatives member expressed his readiness to liberate Bayelsa from “the shackles of bad governance if given the opportunity to rule.’’