Ahead Of 2023, Buhari Rules Out Direct Primary, Consensus Candidate

From Ogundele Olanrewaju

Because President Muhammadu Buhari has approved an indirect primary, the All Progressives Congress will not use a direct primary to elect its presidential candidate in 2023.

Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s National Chairman, has stated that the party would hold its primaries in one of three ways: direct, indirect, or consensus.

However, National Daily has learned that the President’s decision on the primary election’s mode of election would be ratified at the APC’s National Executive Committee’s emergency meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.

Our source further claims that the President has vetoed the adoption of a consensus candidate, instead urging all presidential candidates to continue wooing the delegate.

“President Buhari prefers indirect mode for the presidential primaries and that is what the APC will adopt. He said it before that the process is cumbersome and more expensive and that was the reason he rejected the Electoral Bill and pleaded with the National Assembly to expunge that section from the drafted bill. He has told the leadership of the APC that he prefers indirect and it is what they will likely adopt.

“More so, he is yet to give green light regarding his preference among the aspirants bidding to succeed him in 2023 and even though there is a likelihood of him throwing his support behind one of them, he won’t ask others to withdraw as he will not adopt consensus this time. He will want everyone to go to the field and fight for the ticket,” the source said.

It will be recalled that the APC adopted an indirect mode in the primary that produced Buhari as a winner in 2015 but a direct primary was adopted in 2019.

There was a contest in 2015 as Rochas Okorocha, Atiku Abubakar, Sam Nda-Isaiah and Rabiu Kwankwaso also fought for the ticket. Buhari was the only candidate in 2019 as the party adopted a direct primary.