Convention, direct primaries, others on the agenda as APC governors meet in Abuja

Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday night held a closed-door meeting in Abuja.

The Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) held the meeting at the residence of the chairman of the forum and Governor of Kebbi State, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.

In attendance at the meeting were the governors of Kwara, Imo, Borno, Ebonyi, Lagos and Zamfara.

Others were governors of Niger, Ogun, Cross River, Kogi, Nasarawa, Katsina, Plateau, Ekiti, Jigawa and Kano States.

As at 10:00 p.m., their counterparts from Osun, Yobe, Gombe and Kaduna States were still being expected, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.

The meeting was expected to, among other things, discuss the party’s forthcoming National Convention, its zoning arrangement, direct primary and other issues.

The PGF at its meeting of. Nov. 9 had said that adopting direct primaries by political parties would overstretch the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The National Assembly adopted Section 87 of the amended electoral bill currently awaiting the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari.

That section stipulates mandatory direct primaries for all political parties.

However, at PGF last meeting, the Chair, Bagudu said that INEC’s decision to make it mandatory for political parties to elect their candidates for elective positions through direct primaries was undemocratic.

According to him, it will limit the parties ability to choose their desired options.

Direct primaries involve the participation of all party members in the selection of candidates, while indirect primaries involve the use of delegates who are mostly leaders and executives at the ward, local government and state levels to elect the party’s candidates at congress or convention.