Buhari, Osinbajo, Govs, Others Won’t Vote At Presidential Primary – APC

The ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that statutory delegates will not be able to vote at its presidential primaries slated for June 6th to 8th.

Naija News reports that the APC was reacting to the ruling which held that statutory delegates can vote at its special convention, where its presidential candidate would emerge.

Recall that a Federal High Court sitting in Kano had ruled that statutory delegates can participate in party primaries of political parties in accordance with the Nigerian constitution.

The judgement was given by Justice A.M. Liman on Friday following a suit filed by Mas’ud Doguwa, Habibu Sani, and Bilyaminu Shinkafi.

In the ruling, the presiding judge held that section 84(8) does not exclude statutory delegates from voting at party primaries.

He also held that Section 223 of the Nigerian constitution and the APC constitution allow statutory Delegation (sic) to vote at convention, congress or meeting.

Reacting to the ruling, APC spokesman, Felix Morka said that the party will proceed with its convention using the elected delegates as provided in section 84(8) of the electoral act.

In a chat with Premium Times on Saturday, Morka said the APC was not a party to the case, as only the party’s National Chairman, Abdulahi Adamu was included in the suit.

He asserted the ruling party will proceed with its presidential primary without the statutory delegates participating.

He said: “We are proceeding with our convention as planned—as originally planned.”

When asked about the court’s decision, he said, “What court case? Was the party (APC) a party to the case? Go look at the parties to the case. APC is not a party to the case.

“They listed the national chairman. He is not a juristic person, APC is a legal person. Nobody sued APC in that matter, so why would you bother with whatever judgement the court gave?”