All set for APC presidential primary

• Governors’, NWC’s meeting inconclusive

All is now set for the special convention and presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) holding today at the Eagle Square in Abuja.

The fate of 23 presidential aspirants will be decided by 2,322 delegates to elect or select the party’s flag bearer at the presidential election billed for February 2023.

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had fixed June 6 to 8, 2022 for the special convention and presidential primary.

The venue of the convention is wearing a new look with all the pavillions already assigned to delegates for each state.

The venue is adorned with billboards, banners and posters of all the aspirants.

The delegates’ accreditation earlier slated for yesterday will now hold at the International Conference Centre (ICC) today ahead of the special convention billed to kick off around 3 p.m.

Barring last-minute changes, the ruling party may be heading for an elective primary, as moves to have a consensus arrangement failed.

The Southwest stakeholders’ meetings held yesterday failed to arrive at a consensus candidate, while the meetings of Southeast and Southsouth leaders of the party were deadlocked.Neither region was able to arrive at the presentation of a consensus candidate at their meetings.

The northern governors of the party had, on Saturday, endorsed power shift to the South at the expiration of the second tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.

But the decision was vehemently opposed by Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, while his Jigawa State counterpart, Abdubakar Badaru, willingly aligned with the position of his fellow northern governors.

A meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) members and governors was inconclusive last night.

The meeting rose after a 30-minute deliberation at the party’s secretariat due to the inability of National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu to attend the meeting, which 16 of the 22 governors attended.

Those at the meeting included governors of Katsina, Niger, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Osun, Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kwara, Plateau, Lagos, Gombe, Bornu and Ogun.

Addressing reporters after the meeting, Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Abubakar Kyari, explained that the meeting would continue in the night at an undisclosed venue.

 The Agnes Isika Blog gathered that the meeting was later shifted to the home of the National Chairman at the Villa.