The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nentawe Yilwatda, has assured party members that all grievances arising from the party’s primaries would be resolved amicably through established internal mechanisms.
Mr Yilwatda gave the assurance on Thursday after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stating that the ruling party possessed the capacity and structures needed to manage post-primary disputes across the country.
He described the APC primaries as among the most competitive in Nigeria’s political history, attributing the development to the growing acceptance and popularity of the party nationwide.
The APC chairman thanked President Tinubu and party members for their support throughout the exercise, maintaining that the primaries were largely peaceful, organised and free of major rancour.
“I also want to thank our supporters for the disciplined approach they’ve given these processes. It’s near rancour-free, very organised, with little complaints. It’s usual for people to complain in election processes, but it’s near perfect,” he said.
Speaking on controversies surrounding consensus arrangements in some states, Mr Yilwatda explained that the party’s guidelines clearly stipulate the procedures for both consensus and direct primaries.
“Our guidelines on consensus are clear. Our guidelines on direct primaries are also clear. Where consensus doesn’t work, you go for direct primaries. That’s what people are doing across the states,” he stated.
He acknowledged that some party members might feel aggrieved after the primaries but insisted that the APC had effective conflict resolution structures to address such concerns.
“Definitely, we’re going to have some aggrieved party members after this primary election. We have an internal conflict resolution mechanism that has prevailed over a period.
“We have the Presidential Conflict Resolution Committee. We have the Party Conflict Resolution Committee. The party itself has been working to reduce crisis; we manage people as much as we can,” he added.
Mr Yilwatda further disclosed that President Tinubu expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the primaries, particularly the logistics and strategies deployed across the country.
“The President was very impressed with the logistics we deployed across the country, the tactics we’ve used. He has also been very impressed with the reduced number of incidents that we have across the country. He’s happy with what we’re doing,” he said.
The APC chairman described the nationwide deployment of direct primaries as a major milestone in the party’s organisational development, noting that the exercise demonstrated improved coordination and discipline among members.
According to him, the orderly conduct of the exercise and the limited conflicts recorded reflected the growing maturity of the party’s internal democratic processes.
