Fayemi’s Group Rejects Direct Primaries

We the undersigned on behalf of the concerned delegates and leaders in Ekiti State APC write to seriously object to the suggestion by some aspirants to use direct primaries method otherwise called Option A4 in the rescheduled Ekiti All Progressives Congress gubernatorial primaries slated for Friday, May 11, 2018.

It is a well known fact that apart from the attendant crisis that this method can cause, it is against the principle of fairness and justice to change the rules in the middle of a game. This will amount to subversion, perversion of justice and abuse of the system.

The direct primaries option at this stage of the primaries will produce nothing but crisis and this is the real motive of the proponents of this suspicious method.

The direct primaries option is a flagrant denial of the rights of the delegates who have been empowered through electoral process by the financial members of their ward otherwise called Ward Congress to vote for the governorship aspirant of their choice in primary elections to Elect party’s candidates.

The delegates so empowered have not relinquished this right and mandate of the people, and so denying them this voting right which has commenced on May 5 before the process was aborted,is tantamount to disenfranchisement.
It is also a denial of the right of the ward congresses who have empowered the delegates through transparent local election to vote on their behalf and they have not withdrawn that right.

We also want you, the National Chairman and the National Working Committee of the APC, to take cognisance of the notorious fact that the flag off of the registration of new members was done in Ekiti not quite two months ago, therefore, the National Secretariat of the party cannot ascertain the actual number of members in Ekiti State since the registers are yet to be submitted, verified and authenticated as official document of APC bearing members’ names in Ekiti State.

As at today, the state secretariat cannot give facts and figures on the numbers of APC registered members.

Option A4 will be another danger for the party because the same aspirants whose agents disrupted the May 5 primaries will again mobilize thugs to the 177 wards in the state and this will be difficult for the security agents to curtail.

Recall that security agents could not stop sponsored thugs of some aspirants from smashing ballot boxes in the full glare of TV live coverage and despite the presence of detachment of fully armed security personnel in just one location. So how will security agencies stop thugs in 177 wards containing about 131 towns?

The logistics required for the use of Option A4 in 177 wards in terms of men and materials are enormous and cumbersome and it will not be possible to mobilise these resources within the limited time available for the conduct of the primaries.

We are aware that the real motive of the aspirants in suggesting this option is to give them an ample opportunity to finally disrupt the exercise by deploying thugs and cultists who would abort the process and cause a stalemate. The result of this is that APC will not have a candidate to present till the May 15 deadline would lapse.

We wish to state clearly that we are ready for a repeat of the delegate primaries and we say NO to direct primaries because it is a recipe for crisis which has been predetermined by aspirants who are not ready for any election but want the whole process stalemated because they have ganged up against a particular aspirant.

We wish to advise the aspirants who are clamouring for direct primaries to brace up for a repeat of the aborted delegates primaries on Friday because the direct primary option is not feasible and it is not in the best interest of democracy, Ekiti APC and Ekiti people generally.

Any aspirant who is not ready for election can honourably withdraw from the race rather than throwing tantrums and suggesting ridiculous options that will lead to nowhere but doom.