As the Presidential Primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling draws closer, aspirants are battling to swing and gain the support of about 2,340 party delegates that will vote the party’s 2023 presidential Candidate.
Northern Nigeria has about 1,257 delegates and Southern Nigeria has a total of 1,068 delegates. These adhoc delegates are the only ones empowered to vote in the party’s primaries as Statutory delegates comprising of the President, Vice President, House of Assembly members were exempted from the exercise by the newly amended electoral act.
The Electoral Act 2022 does not establish or mention a role for Statutory delegates.
This issue in the electoral act has generated a lot of controversy as Lawmakers are currently battling to correct that section the act.
The Section 84 (8) of the act states that “A political party that adopts the system of indirect primaries for the choice of its candidate shall clearly outline in its constitution and rules the procedure for the democratic election of delegates to vote at the convention, congress or meeting.”
However lawmakers are trying to alter it by deleting the previous subsection and inserting this; “A political party that adopts the system of indirect primaries for the choice of its candidates shall clearly outline in its constitution and rules the procedure for the democratic election of delegates to vote at the convention, congress or meeting, in addition to statutory delegates already prescribed in the Constitution of the party.”
Below is a Zonal breakdown of the APC Adhoc Delegates;
South-West
Lagos – 60
Ekiti – 48
Ogun – 60
Osun – 90
Oyo – 99
Ondo – 54
Total – 411
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South-South
Akwa Ibom – 93
Bayelsa – 24
Cross River – 54
Delta – 75
Edo – 54
Rivers – 69
Total – 369
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South-East
Abia – 54
Anambra – 63
Enugu – 51
Ebonyi – 39
Imo – 81
Total – 288
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North-East
Adamawa – 63
Bauchi – 60
Gombe – 33
Borno – 81
Yobe – 51
Taraba – 48
Total – 336
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North-Central
Kogi – 63
Kwara – 48
Benue – 69
Plateau – 51
Nasarawa – 39
Niger – 75
FCT, Abuja – 18
Total – 363
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North-West
Kaduna – 69
Kano – 132
Katsina – 102
Kebbi – 63
Jigawa – 81
Sokoto – 69
Zamfara – 42
Total – 558
FROM THE ABOVE ENUMERATION. ABAT HAS WELL OVER HALF OF THE DELEGATES IN HIS KITTY, ALREADY.