A former deputy governor of Plateau State, Mrs PaulineTallen, says no popular politician will ever succumb to indirect primaries as a mode of elections to produce party candidate.
Tallen said this on Tuesday at the APC National Secretariat after submitting her expression of interest and nomination forms to contest Plateau South Senatorial District seat in the National Assembly.
She said direct primaries represented the sole option through which party members expressed their popular support for any candidate.
The former minister, who said she decided to join the senatorial race to answer the call of her people and pursue the need for women participation in politics, urged the stakeholders to give women one third of lawmakers in the Senate, House of Representatives, and State Houses of Assembly.
Also speaking after submitting his forms, Alhaji Mohammed Sagir Haliru, a governorship aspirant from Zamfara State, said the state seemed to have had the highest number of gubernatorial aspirants because of the lingering security challenges.
Haliru, who promised to tackle the challenges posed by insecurities, large mass of uneducated youth and women, dismissed the so-called announcement of a consensus governorship aspirant.
He said, “I’m one of the stakeholders. I’m not aware of any meeting that agrees on consensus candidate. The APC is a truly progressive party. As of today, we will resist any attempt to make APC undemocratic.
“I can tell you that six out of seven aspirants have not been consulted. We may now start looking into the issues of direct and indirect primaries.”
A former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, who also spoke today at the APC national secretariat, said people asked him to run again so that the ruling party would not lose in the coming election.
Alao-Akala, who spoke after submitting his forms, said the APC could not afford to field a green horn in 2019.
Senator Aliyu Sani, who is representing Niger North Senatorial District, expressed confidence that he would win again together with President Muhammadu Buhari to deliver more dividends of democracy.
