From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has finally bowed to pressure by shifting to Monday next week, the deadline for the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms, blaming it on Friday’s public holiday.
He also dismissed the insinuations that the minor hiccups between the ruling party and the management of Continental Hotels, Abuja, over alleged unpaid bills for using it as venue was responsible for the deadline adjustment.
Earlier in the morning yesterday, the hotel management had disrupted the sale of nomination process, locking out the ruling party for hours, which affected the conclusion of the process yesterday as initially scheduled.
Although the party’s national chairman, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, had technically ruled out the possibility of extending the deadline for the sale of the forms, claiming that it would require the party’s national leadership meeting to take a final decision on it, the party, however, decided to postpone the deadline till Monday.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja, the party’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Duru Meseko, dismissed the speculations that the postponement was due to the hotel management’s disruption of the process.
According to Meseko, the deadline for the submission of completed nomination forms earlier scheduled for Saturday had also been shifted to midnight of Tuesday.
“APC met today and resolved that the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms for the offices under the APC for the forthcoming primaries have now been extended till midnight Monday, May 4 next week.
“That the deadline for the submission of forms was to be Saturday, May 2, this week but has now been extended to the midnight of Tuesday, May 5 next week,” he announced.
Speaking further, the deputy spokesperson said: “We expect all the relevant officers of the party and also aspirants to take note of this important development. As you know, we have a public holiday on Friday and that has been the reason to allow everybody because as of this afternoon, we have been getting calls from stations that people want to buy forms due to the public holiday.
“So, we met and said if this is the situation, the sale of forms has now been extended till night of Monday, May 4 and submission now extended till midnight of Tuesday, May 5, next week, for all positions being contested for under the APC,” he said.
Claiming ignorance of the morning incident that resulted in delay in the commencement of the sale of nomination forms, he said: “I am not aware of the situation because I left the hotel a few hours earlier for the NWC meeting and nobody prevented me from entering. I do know that there are miscreants around the vicinity trying to cause stampede and chaos and all of that, but that has been reported to the authorities.
“In fact, when we were in the NWC meeting, we were briefed that the CP has deployed not less than 40 policemen there to maintain order and all of that. You will realise that this is a political season and when aspirants are coming to pick their forms, they don’t just come alone; they come with a crowd and the crowd will want to push and that must have led to the chaos. But I can assure you that the situation there is calm and there is no chaos,” he assured.
On whether the postponement affected other timetables and schedule of activities, he said: “Other timelines remain the same. It is only the sale and submission of forms that have been extended. The date for the sale and submission of forms was extended but other timelines remain the same. The screening will commence on Wednesday, May 6, as earlier advertised and also, subsequent programmes for the primaries.”
He equally reacted to the allegation against some APC governors not realising nomination forms to the aspirants for the State House of Assembly, noting, “I will say categorically that it is wrong.
For instance, I have friends who are contesting. And that is why we deploy our staff from the party’s secretariat here to go to the various states to sell the forms for the House of Assembly.
“It is not even being sold by the state chapters. It is sold by our staff in the admin department. In Lagos, I have about two or three friends that are running for the State House of Assembly. They have sold them. I also have friends from other states and they have already got their forms. You know this is the time for unfounded rumours and fake news. The governors are not the ones in charge of the sale of the forms. So, there is no way they would serve as an obstacle to the procurement,” he said.
