Nine APC governors meet Buhari over irregularities in party’s primaries

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday met with nine APC state governors over the ongoing party primaries.

The governors are Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Rochas Okorocha (imo), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Sani Bello (Niger), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), and Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa).

The meeting which started around 12 noon ended by 1.30 p.m.

Speaking to State House newsmen, Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum Rochas Okorocha said the meeting was held over the hiccups trailing the primaries of the ruling party.

He said the meeting was to find solutions to the crisis trailing election primaries in the states.

Okorocha said he requested that every willing aspirant be allowed to participate in the primaries.

“We came to review the various crises characterizing our primaries, especially the APC, with a view to finding a solution.

“So, we are looking for a way out in this regard. We are going to find a solution, our party believes in justice, equity and fairness.

“We are requesting: let the right thing be done and let everyone contest the elections,” the Imo State governor said.

A similar meeting was held on Wednesday, when Ondo State Governor Akeredolu and his counterpart in Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, met with the president behind closed-doors.

This comes against the backdrop of states like Imo and Ogun holding parallel primaries in which the governors’ prefered candidates lost their respective elections.

The governors are hoping that the president intervenes to ensure their preferred candidates win.

In Ogun State for instance, Dapo Abiodun won the governorship primaries conducted and endorsed by the electoral committee set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC for the purpose.

The output of the primaries showed that Abiodun polled over 102,000 to win the election by a landslide, while Amosun’s chosen candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, scored just over 23,000.

A parallel congress was also held in the state by Amosun’s camp in which Akinlade was then declared winner with 9,000 votes.

However, in Imo State, before the NWC nullified the governorship primaries and sacked the electoral panel, Okorocha’s son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, came in a distant seventh position, indicating the level of his unpopularity.