THE National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka, has defended the party’s decision to substitute some candidates after its primaries, insisting that no aspirant who failed to participate in the primary election process was declared a winner.
News Point Nigeria reports that Morka made the clarification on Tuesday during an interview on ARISE NEWS while responding to allegations that the APC arbitrarily replaced some candidates or handed party tickets to individuals who did not participate in the primaries.
According to the APC spokesman, the party received more than 720 petitions from aggrieved aspirants following the conduct of the primaries, prompting a comprehensive review of the exercise.
He explained that the substitutions were made based on recommendations submitted by the party’s appeal committees, which were subsequently reviewed by the National Working Committee (NWC).
“We received over 720 petitions from those who contested in that election. These petitions were reviewed by the appeal committees. Recommendations were made to the National Working Committee. But the National Working Committee of our party, in its wisdom, also took responsibility to review the reports of the appeal committees and to re-evaluate those cases.
“And at the end of them, we made those changes that you are discussing. So these are legitimate outcomes of our primaries,” he said.
Responding to allegations that the APC violated the Electoral Act by substituting candidates after the primaries, Morka argued that the primary election process extends beyond the actual voting exercise and includes an appeal and dispute resolution mechanism.
He maintained that the appeal process forms an integral part of the primary election and was not created by the party to manipulate outcomes.
“Primary election is a process. It’s not an event. The appeal process is an integral part of the primary election process. It’s not a separate process, and it’s not a process invented by the party to cause mischief,” he said.
Morka also dismissed allegations that the APC awarded tickets to individuals who neither purchased nomination forms nor participated in the primaries.
He challenged anyone making such claims to provide specific examples, promising to investigate any genuine case brought to his attention.
“I’m not aware of any such case that you are alluding to about those who didn’t participate, who never bought forms, who were not screened, who didn’t participate in primaries, all of a sudden handed tickets.
“Look, I’m not aware. If you have any such example, please mention it, and I will go back and do my own investigation,” Morka said.
The APC spokesman acknowledged that some aspirants remained dissatisfied with the outcome of the primaries but stressed that the party painstakingly reviewed every petition before arriving at its final decisions.
“When they don’t win, naturally some people definitely have a reason to be dissatisfied. And this is why we took our time to go through these appeal processes to make sure that there was no case we didn’t give the time of day to thoroughly review,” he said.
According to him, the party has already begun engaging aggrieved aspirants to reassure them that the review process was transparent, fair and not influenced by personal interests.
“What we say to them is that everyone cannot be flag bearer. Our engagements are already on to reach individuals like this, to reassure them that this is not personal. Nothing has been done that is arbitrary. Nobody has just been favoured with tickets,” he added.
Morka further rejected suggestions that the review process was manipulated to favour particular political interests, arguing that the APC’s internal mechanisms were specifically designed to correct irregularities that may arise during primary elections.
“Primaries are not infallible. Primaries are not immune to irregularities. The system, the law, everything already expects that sometimes things don’t go right, so there must be a mechanism to review that when others complain,” he said.
On claims that the APC was anxious about the next general election despite controlling the majority of state governments, Morka dismissed the suggestion and expressed confidence in the party’s electoral strength.
He pointed to the party’s performance in elections conducted since the 2023 general elections as evidence of its popularity.
“All the elections conducted in this country since the 2023 general elections, we have won them, including the most recent elections we won massively, bigly, to use the words of Donald Trump,” he said.
Reaffirming the APC’s confidence ahead of the next general election, Morka said the ruling party remained focused on working hard to secure another electoral victory.
“We are working hard to win the next election, like we’ve won in all the by-elections. The idea that we’re afraid, that is utterly ridiculous. We are working hard to win the next election,” he added.