The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abia State, Hon. Chijioke Chukwu, says all the party’s primary elections were conducted in total obedience to the party’s constitution, guidelines, and in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act as amended.
Chukwu disclosed this while addressing journalists on Thursday at the party Secretariat on the outcome of the primaries. He announced that the official announcement of results would be completed by 8pm on Thursday.
“From 8pm, we will be handing over declaration certificates to winners of the primaries for the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the State House of Assembly,” he said.
“Today, we are about winding up the exercise for the governorship primaries. Our collation officers who went to the field have started coming in gradually, and results are being collated. At the end of this exercise this evening, the chairman, secretary, and members of the APC primaries committee are already here with us.
“They will declare the results as collected from the field. For the governorship primaries, we had three aspirants: Chief Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh, Chief Eric Opah, and Mascot Uzor Kalu.”
Chukwu said that prior to the governorship primaries, Mascot Uzor Kalu voluntarily withdrew from the race, saying he may have listened to the voice of reason.
He maintained that Kalu was neither compelled nor persuaded. “He felt there was no need to change the zoning arrangement. Moreover, since his elder brother, Distinguished Senator Orji Kalu, has already emerged as Abia North senatorial candidate, maybe he felt there was no need for two of them to pursue different offices at the same time. He wants to dedicate his time and resources to support the Distinguished Senator.”
“When it is voluntary, it means nobody compelled him. It was done willingly and in the interest of party unity and progress.”
On security arrangements during the primaries, Chukwu commended the security at all venues, describing it as top-notch.
He said there were no serious incidents of violence, except for a few areas of minor disagreements, which were effectively managed by security agencies.
Chukwu also appreciated officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, who monitored the exercise from the ward to local government, constituency, and state levels. He emphasised that Abia APC had fully complied with INEC’s provisions and the Electoral Act.
Responding to reports that the National Working Committee directed that results should not be announced at the state level, Chukwu said the intent of the letter was clear.
“It is the duty of collation officers to announce results at the constituency, senatorial district, or governorship level. The state returning officer has the right to announce the result of the election, not members of the committee or members of the primaries committee.
“The members of the committee collect results from returning officers, input them, and sign the declaration forms. I think that is the intent of that letter. Some of us misunderstood the intent and interpreted it out of context.”
On pacifying aspirants who may be aggrieved after the primaries, Chukwu said it has been the prayer of the party that there would be no aggrieved members, but added that everybody cannot win at the same time. He said tomorrow also presents an opportunity for those who did not win today to try again.
“You can lose tomorrow and win the next day. And in all these positions, they cannot be occupied by two people. It can only be one person.
“Even before the primary election commenced, we were proactive in identifying where some of these challenges may come from. Nobody is happy losing an election or losing anything. But we have put measures in place to ensure that from next week, as soon as the primary elections are concluded, we will set up a Peace and Reconciliation Committee.
“There is no way you will have a party of this magnitude of followership and not see people who disagree for one reason or the other. It is not possible. Even in a small nuclear family, there are differences of opinion, thought, and expectation.
“For those aspirants, there is no limit to what we can do to ensure they do not leave the party. The party has a robust reward system. Because we are the largest party in Nigeria and in Africa, by extension, if we don’t give you something in the state, we will get you something at the federal level. And we have continued to ensure that our members are rewarded based on loyalty and commitment to the party,” Chukwu concluded.
