A senatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State, Mr Daniel Ayesukwe, has kicked against the party’s consensus arrangement, insisting that direct primaries remain the most democratic pathway ahead of the APC senatorial primaries.
Ayesukwe, who is vying for the Taraba South Senatorial ticket, made his position known during a press briefing in Jalingo on Saturday.
He claimed that a consensus committee reportedly set up by Gov. Agbu Kefas had informed aspirants that there was an agreement to return all serving lawmakers.
According to him, the development raised questions about the rationale behind allowing other aspirants to obtain nomination forms and undergo screening in the first place.
“As aspirants, we bought forms and the committee told us there was an understanding to return all serving members,” he said.
He argued that if incumbents had already been assured automatic tickets, then the party ought not to have subjected others to the full nomination process.
“They would have simply handed forms to the serving lawmakers instead of asking others to spend money and prepare for primaries,” he added.
The APC chieftain stressed that true internal democracy demands that grassroots party members be allowed to freely select candidates through direct primaries.
He further noted that President Bola Tinubu had also expressed support for grassroots participation in situations where consensus arrangements fail.
Ayesukwe cautioned that giving automatic tickets to sitting lawmakers without testing their popularity could weaken internal democracy and breed discontent within the party.
“We want a situation where APC will have 95 per cent of the votes across Nigeria as the best party in the country.
“You can see that most governors are in the APC. That tells you how strong the party is, but this consensus thing should be handled carefully so that it does not bring negative effects on the party,” he said.
