The All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders in Adamawa State have been urged to adhere to the principles of internal democracy in their dealings to reclaim the state in 2023.
APC was defeated by PDP in the state in the 2019 governorship election in the state.
Retired Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako gave the advice while honouring the invitation of the North East Interim Vice Chairman of the party, Professor Mamman Tahir, to a meeting in Abuja.
Nyako said the failure to adhere to internal democracy cost the APC in Adamawa the 2019 elections.
He said: “The APC should learn from the past, especially as it relates to internal party democracy. Lack of internal party democracy was what caused the downfall of PDP in Nigeria in the year 2015.
“Also, this repeated itself in the APC in Adamawa in 2018/2019, as such a faction of the APC left the party and became the ADC. The consequence was that APC lost the 2019 elections in the state.
“It, therefore, means that the party must draw lessons from the past and get it right this time around, from the congresses right to the primaries. If this is done, it would become easy to mobilise grassroots support for the party and it would be able to win majority of the electoral seats in 2023 elections,” Nyako noted.
The meeting was attended by the interim Vice Chairman North East Prof. Tahir Mammal, Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha, FCT Minister Muhammad Musa Bello, Senator Aisha Binani, Dr Modi Halilu and serving and former lawmakers and stakeholders.