Governor Mala Buni of Yobe says the All Progressives Congress (APC) is committed to the conduct of free, fair and transparent primary election if consensus candidates fail to emerge.
This is contained in a statement by Mr Buni’s Director-General Press and Media Affairs, Mamman Mohammed, in Damaturu on Sunday.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that six APC governorship aspirants in the state have rejected the endorsed candidate of the party’s critical stakeholders, Baba Wali, and demanded the conduct of a credible direct primary election.
The aspirants are Ibrahim Bomoi, Bashir Machina, Kashim Musa-Tumsah, Mustapha Maihaja, Lawan Kolo and Rtd. Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Baba.
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Mr Buni said the party had not foreclosed the direct election mode to produce its candidates for the contestable offices for the 2027 general election.
“The emergence of Baba Mallam Wali as the preferred candidate of the party followed the resolutions of the critical stakeholders meeting of the 23rd April 2026.
“He was endorsed and adopted as the preferred candidate, but if there is no general agreement, we shall adopt the election mode.
“This is not new. In 2019, l was nominated as a consensus candidate, a few other aspirants contested the decision, and we went for election where l emerged as the party’s candidate with a very wide margin. We are ready to repeat that history if we cannot reach consensus,” he said.
The governor, however, said the party was still reaching out to the aggrieved aspirants and other stakeholders to arrive at an amicable resolution through dialogue.
“l will be the happiest person to see the state and party peaceful and united; we remain citizens of Yobe state and members of APC. My expectation is to see us more united and collectively working for our candidates to win the 2027 general election.
“As a founding member, former secretary and national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, the unity and progress of the party mean so much to me personally. I will continue to support and protect the ideals of the party to remain Nigeria’s ruling political party,” Mr Buni said.
The governor expressed optimism that the aspirations for public offices by all aspirants in the state were driven by the desire to serve the people for a better and improved life.
According to him, Yobe is proudly a leading example of political transparency, internal and participatory democracy. We shall continue to uphold these principles to promote the policy of politics without bitterness.
“I am proud to say we are all into this decision together with the critical Stakeholders to agree and support the party in the state, after all, we are all working for the good of the state.”
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Mr Buni assured that the party would give everyone a sense of belonging and would continue supporting whoever emerged as its candidate for APC to win the presidential, governorship and all the national and state assembly seats in the state.
“I call on all APC members in the state to promote unity and generate more support for the party to remain Yobe and Nigeria’s ruling political party to deliver the state to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s second term bid and all other candidates of the APC,” the governor emphasised.
(NAN)
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