Presidential primary confirms APC on winning path –Yilwatda

•Anyim defends direct primary to elect Tinubu as candidate

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has boasted that the successful outcome of its presidential primary is a confirmation that the ruling party is a winning path to remain in power beyond 2027.

This is as Chairman of the Presidential Primary Election Committee, Anyim Pius Anyim, said the party adopted direct mode of primary to elect President Bola Tinubu to ensure inclusivity.

They both spoke at the venue of the 2026 coalition and declaration of presidential primary election results yesterday in Abuja.

Yilwatda boasted that no other political party has the capacity to match the strength of the ruling party in organising and showcasing what APC presented in their congresses.

He argued that the volume of attraction to purchase APC’s expression of interest and nomination forms and participation in the primary was a confirmation that the ruling party would win next year’s general elections landslide.

“The APC is becoming the rallying point for all political parties. Everybody wants to be in the APC. The competition to be in the APC is quite high and we see thousands of people buying our forms. It shows how our party is accepted by Nigerians and by the people,” he bragged. “The turnout during our presidential primary congresses to nominate the president was massive. The numbers were in their thousands and this is just a mock demonstration of what the general election will look like.

“It shows clearly that no other party would win the election because the numbers turning out are in their thousands. Believe me, no political party can showcase one-tenth of what we presented in their own congresses. It shows that we are on the winning path.”

He equally spoke on the rancorous legislative assembly primaries, emphasising that it is expected.

“You should know that when it comes to power, it is a game of power and everybody wants to be the one elected. Everyone wants to find reasons to be elected. But, we as a party, have internal mechanisms for conflict resolution.

“We have the presidential conflict resolution team and the party reconciliation team. We activate them to go down to the state level and the national level to ensure quicker reconciliation, a fast healing process and they will merge it with campaigns to ensure that we win the 2027 election,” he said.

On the videos circulating over miscounting of voters during the party’s primary, he said: “Sometimes you see videos online. I even received a video that was sent to me, which I later found out was from an event that happened three or four years ago.

“These are unverified videos and are not even meant for our party activities. They were from activities somewhere else, even union or leadership elections in different settings, but are being circulated as if they are APC activities.

“If you check all our activities, we have our flags, our banners and people raising their membership cards. In those videos, you cannot see any APC banner anywhere. It shows clearly that those were not APC activities,” he said.

In his opening remarks at the presidential primary collation, Anyim attributed the reason for adopting the mode to deepening democratic participation.

He said President Tinubu has, by the singular decision, dismantled the seemingly intractable obstacles hindering the much-desired electoral reforms in Nigeria today.

“The mode of this election is the direct primary system. The model is not only an effort to select candidates for the 2027 elections, but more importantly, to give effect to the long-standing call for electoral reforms, which culminated in fundamental amendments to the Electoral Act.

“By this groundbreaking model, the APC has become the first political party to adopt the direct primary election model for its presidential primary election. The central intent of the APC in adopting the direct primary model includes to deepen democratic participation, ensure inclusivity and expand the political space.

“The essentials of the direct primary model include provision of opportunity for all members of the party to participate in the process, foreclosing the vote associated with delegate elections, offering transparency, as against secret ballot and enhancing the confidence of voters that their votes count.

“These are the core values the APC not only seeks to promote but also inculcate in our electoral system. Permit me to pay tribute to Mr. President, whose leadership of the party, had become a compass that has guided the party thus far.

“Mr. President, you are swift to act, legendary in vision and catalytic in prosecuting reforms. By this singular act of adopting the direct primary election, you have dismantled the seemingly intractable obstacles hindering the much-desired electoral reforms in Nigeria today.

“You are not only a force behind the direct primary model of the APC, you are also answering the call for electoral transparency and democratic stability in Nigeria,” Anyim said.