Abuja—The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed May 30th/31st as the proposed date for its presidential primary election.
According to reports by TheCable, the APC also proposed May 23 for the governorship primary.
In a letter addressed to Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), dated April 6, the party notified the electoral umpire of the dates and schedule of its primaries for the nomination of candidates for the 2023 elections.
The party also fixed the primary elections for states’ houses of assembly for May 11th, the house of representatives on May 16th while senatorial districts will hold on May 18.
The letter reads, “This serves as a formal notification, under the provisions of Section 85 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended. Kindly arrange for your officials to monitor the exercise accordingly. While hoping to receive your cooperation, please accept the assurances of my highest esteem.”
It was reported that the party would commence the sale of forms for the various elective positions on April 22 and end on May 7.
The APC also proposed that the expression of interest form for the states’ houses of assembly will cost N500,000, while the nomination form will cost N1,500,000.
For the house of representatives seats, the expression of interest form will cost N1 million and the nomination form will cost N4 million, while aspirants vying for senatorial seats will pay N2 million for the expression form and N8 million for the nomination form.
For governorship seats, the expression of interest form will cost N5 million and N25 million for the nomination form. For the presidential position, the expression of interest form will cost N5 million, while the nomination form is fixed for N40 million.
On Friday, the party fixed April 20 for a post-convention national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
According to the party, the meeting would consider its schedule for the primaries ahead of the 2023 elections and other relevant business.
Meanwhile, former senate president of Nigeria and presidential hopeful on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Bukola Saraki, has said that he and other aspirants of the party are currently looking at the option of a consensus candidate for them to come up with a presidential candidate that can address the prevailing insecurity in Nigeria.
According to reports by the DailyPost, Saraki stated this in a press statement after a closed-door meeting with the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu at his country-home Umuobiakwa community in Obingwa Local Government Area of the state, alongside other notable presidential aspirants of the PDP.
The aspirants were in Abia on the possibility of a consensus presidential candidate for the main opposition party in Nigeria.
Other presidential aspirants who visited the Abia Governor alongside Saraki were the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; Senator Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, and Dr. Mohammed Hayatudeen.
Saraki maintained that the party is driven by the determination to turn Nigeria around while expressing optimism that the PDP would emerge victorious in the upcoming general election in the country come 2023.
Saraki responding to a question about why ex-Nigerian vice president, Atiku Abubakar was not in the delegation of the party’s presidential aspirants, said “he is fully part of the mission and received full briefings on their consensus mission.”
