A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Cletus Obun, has described the party’s presidential primary outcome as evidence that democracy is thriving within the APC, insisting that the over 11 million votes reportedly secured by President Bola Tinubu in the exercise signal a political awakening ahead of the 2027 general election.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Monday, Obun said the figures from the primary reflected growing political consciousness among Nigerians and demonstrated the APC’s organisational strength across the country.
“I’m going to do a holistic political analysis using statistics to show that there is an encore, a revival, some kind of political epiphany for the Nigerian political class, especially the voters, and indeed political participation, which has plummeted between 2019 and 2023,” he said.
He added, “APC has introduced something very new and novel, which is membership registration and documentation, which I think has picked up. The system must now be studied in order to understand what has happened within the political parties.”
Obun argued that despite President Bola Tinubu being the incumbent president and capable of emerging through consensus, the APC still opted for a democratic process.
“For a president who is sitting, who should have the first right of refusal, it should have been a mere consensus. But in order to allow this, APC has consistently shown it. In 2015, in 2019, and in 2023, this direct primary option has always been playing out,” he said.
“And what has come out today is to demonstrate to Nigerians that indeed democracy has come to stay, and that APC is showing the way.”
According to him, the regional spread of votes across the South-West, North-East, North-Central, South-East and South-South would become significant in determining how the party performs in the general election.
“What this has shown for us is that, with these figures, can they translate into the main votes in the general elections? If they do not, we can sit back here and read the headlines and ask how we got 11 million votes in the primaries and people get that figure in the general elections,” he stated.
Obun also blamed low voter turnout in past elections on political apathy and the failure of political parties to educate citizens.
“The general trend has been political apathy across board. Between 1999 and today, the numbers have been dropping in general elections,” he said.
“What parties have never been doing is engaging in political education. That aspect of the participation of voters and citizens in electoral matters has always been lacking. What parties always go for is, ‘vote for me, vote for me.’”
On concerns over the credibility of the APC primaries, Obun admitted that no electoral process was perfect but maintained that the party had established mechanisms to address complaints and verify results.
“Let me start by saying that no election, no matter the climate, no matter the country, is perfect. In spite of this imperfection, there shouldn’t be direct perversion and corruption of the system in order to justify human error,” he said.
Using Cross River State as an example, he noted that aggrieved aspirants were already challenging aspects of the process through the party’s appeal structures.
“You could see some candidates or aspirants coming out to say that in their area they didn’t participate in the process. That is expected. And once that happens, that is why there are appeal panels,” he said.
“The procedure is that after the returning officer, for example in a House of Representatives constituency like mine, collates the results, they go to the state collation officer, who is the national officer from the national office. From that point, it comes to the National Working Committee panel sitting in Abuja.”
“That process is to ensure checks and balances for credibility. Until that is done, you cannot say it is successful and that the elections have arrived.”
Obun said results emerging from the primaries should still be considered preliminary until the completion of appeals and final ratification by the party leadership.
“What you are having now are preliminary election results that are coming up. That is why there is no final list of candidates yet in any of the federal constituencies or senatorial districts, unless there were clear consensus arrangements in those areas,” he explained.
While reacting to allegations that he had been unfairly treated in the primary process in Cross River State, Obun acknowledged grievances among party founding members but insisted he would not abandon the APC.
“What has happened to me, or what you are calling what has happened, is a process. The results are not yet over until we get to the final appeal,” he said.
“But, be that as it may, let me concede to you that the general trend across the country in the 36 states has been the exclusion of foundation members. That has been the pattern.”
Obun called on President Tinubu to recognise loyal party members who had remained with the APC since its formative years.
“This is why we are asking Bola Tinubu, the President of Nigeria, who brought all of us since 2006 to this point, to look back and ask himself: where are those foot soldiers who stood with him when Obasanjo and the PDP were tormenting the opposition?” he asked.
“Should we who founded the party — is loyalty to be rewarded with abandonment and exclusion? Is it that we are not qualified? Let us write the exam. Let us check our pedigree. It is about bringing votes, and we have brought votes and won elections before now.”
Despite expressing dissatisfaction, Obun ruled out leaving the APC.
“I have made the point that there will be an implosion. People like me won’t leave. I will not have snakes and cockroaches in my house and run away. I will fumigate them out,” he said.
“We get to ground zero and start afresh. That is our terrain. We can stay here. We’ve been hungry for 23 years, people like me. I have never held a government position for 23 years and I have not died.”
He added, “It will not be me who destroys the house that I built. That is my position.”
Boluwatife Enome
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