Political party primaries in Nigeria serve as critical mechanisms for candidate selection, but their credibility depends on transparent processes, accurate voter registration, and genuine competition. The 2026 APC presidential primary, which recorded approximately 10.9 million votes, raised questions about electoral integrity due to logistical challenges in counting such large numbers manually and concerns about potential manipulation. Political parties face significant internal conflicts and factionalism, as demonstrated by the ADC's leadership crisis involving multiple factions competing for control. These internal divisions weaken opposition parties and benefit the ruling party, which can exploit opposition fragmentation to maintain power. The electoral process in Nigeria involves complex interactions between party structures, court interventions, and political strategies, with Section 83(5) of the constitution protecting internal party affairs from judicial intervention.
APC Pres’l Primaries, Rundown Of Party Primaries Across States, ADC Conundrum | Morning Brief追加:
It's bright and early right here on Channels Television. Welcome to the Morning Brief. I'm Jeffrey and we're broadcasting live from the nation's commercial nerv center and of course our global headquarters and I have mala.
Good morning.
>> Hi Jeffrey.
>> Good morning.
>> Brand new day right.
>> Absolutely.
>> Brand new day, brand new week and we're back and better up bright and early as usual. Welcome to your perfect morning starter on channels television. I am Buola K and hope you had a restful weekend. For some of us weekends also mean working.
>> Working. Exactly.
>> Yeah.
>> So, there's a lot to play out. I just uh I'm just a bit concerned. There's a lot to look at that had played out in the weekend. Of course, politics was a big one, which we're going to discuss later on on the show. Uh but because of two things crossed my mind. Uh and first thing was I constantly get scared uh by the privilege of what we do and our proximity to the the people we get to be close to and the job we're given to do as people who hold the powerful to account. Sometimes you have the opportunity to have known certain persons before they became quote unquote powerful and then they become powerful.
By powerful I mean they get into office they are one office or the other occupy one office or the other. I don't want to mention any specific office and then you compare who they were to who they are right now and sometimes it totally they had variance with each other. Some turn out good some turn out very horrible.
What I'm saying in essence is that I get terrified by what power can do to people. So I kind of agree that sometimes when you get power, what power does to you is to bring out who you really are. You've always been that person. If you are evil and insensitive and callous is going to show because now you have the opportunity. If you are kind-hearted, you're compassionate, you have the people at heart, it's going to show. So I'm saying that to say now that all of us are preparing for this election because election is what is happening right now.
Examine the people that have had the opportunity to have power and ask yourself what did power produce in their lives? Are they the kind of people that should have power? I'm telling you for a fact from where I sit there are people that should never have access power because what they are doing with power is very disturbing from my own point of view. So uh you have your governors, we have our president, you have senators, you have members of the assembly, you have local government chairman, you have members of the reps and state assembly.
When you examine them, what have they been able to do with power? That's my simple question this morning. I was just processing it over the weekend and I just hope uh we can't get a perfect situation but we can get somewhere uh with the kind of leadership we need for our country. Some are trying, some had no business or have no business being in power. That's my take a quick, you know, venting this morning.
>> Jeffrey, it seems as if some of your or one of your, you know, old friends that you've always known may have accessed power in the last >> No, I have a lot of them >> couple of days and then they stop picking your calls.
>> No, not picking my calls >> because that's what typically happens.
When you have a friend who just attains an office and after some time, you know, perhaps I don't I don't have a problem.
>> They're still picking your calls, but afterwards they no longer pick your calls. They no longer read your message.
>> No, no, it's not it's not it's it's far from that. I I I don't I by the grace of God built myself to the point where even what I am today being in the public doesn't give me any point point of validation at all. And this is being sincere. So picking my call, not picking my call. I'm talking about what you're able to do with the power you have. I' I've seen people become power hungry.
I've seen people become me megalomaniacs. I've seen people become all kinds of things. It has nothing to do with personal. I just observe >> knowing who they were and then who they are right now said, "Nah, this guy, this is not where you were."
>> Well, we could draw out a lot of um examples from this current government, you know, when they were in opposition.
Uh they led the field subsidy protest, you know, with key other key members of the civil society. uh right there at the Ganifa Park in 2012, you know, very historic and very significant, you know, but uh the same government is in power now and you know, it's removed fuel subsidy and it's an advocate of fuel subsidy and all those speakers against that particular policy at that time have become astute supporters of fuel subsidy. We could draw another example of this same government which carpeted the former uh PDPled government for being unable to tackle insecurity. But, you know, we're we're here now in 2026 May uh with political partying uh parties conducting primaries and we're in the middle of very serious political concerns with a lot of uh support expressed for the administration with a an a an interpretation of its efforts, you know, to tackle uh the security challenge in uh a a a narrative that, you know, is as compelling as you know confusing when you wonder what the results are as against this administration is working uh it's different from you know the denial that we saw that shaped the uh approach to tackling insecurity under the last administration and so uh from Jeffrey's analysis this morning you could say that the test of power has shown uh you know the character of this particular administration and so what is it for you has it really been renewed hope especially as we begin to look at the result of the primaries where Mr. president got nearly 11 million votes, well over what was recorded even in the actual election in 2023.
So has this been renewed hope for you or as some would say renewed she and Jeffrey speaking of which I just asked you before we started off the program that have you seen the breakdown of the results from the different local government or maybe even states of the federation so that we can you know see what those states were able to turn out and then we can compare it with the outcome of the real elections in 2023.
It's really an interesting development coming through from the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress and you know the president was speaking to the conduct of the primaries as peaceful and that's the way politics really should be. Perhaps if we have that sound bite ready uh we can help you to get a feel of what happened during the uh elections. And the the national chairman of the party was alo also speaking to the outcome of the uh you know the primary presidential primary as very competitive. And I did hear another soundbite, you know, where one of the party leaders was saying that a challenger got the party to wake up, to stand up and and see that, you know, it was not just going to be business as usual, but you know, what was the difference between that opponent, you know, contesting and not contesting at all, Jeffrey?
>> So, let let me be let me be as clear so that I'm going to be quoted as clear as crystal.
>> Yeah. The APC has a model. I have studied their model.
>> Yeah.
>> When it comes to a new leadership, Muhammad Buari's first coming, it was by delegates election.
When it was time for him to re to be reelected, it was by direct primaries and Muhammad got I think 14.6 or so million votes and then the the re-election he got about 14.1 million votes. when President Bolatin will emerge as president, he was through that uh indirect primary I should say that indirect primary of the uh 2015 and then 2023 was also indirect primary delegates election and so reelection now they've gone back to the issue of direct primaries and I feel that they also influenced the whole consensus and direct primaries as a model. If anybody tells you >> Jeff please be care they influenced how do you mean >> I mean of course they're in the majority in the national assembly so you know they can move things I'm saying I believe yes >> okay so the electoral act as amended may have been amended to support the ruling party >> if you look at how their party functions and there's nothing wrong with it if you know it's in the general interest of the people depending on what you're looking at >> well Jeffrey even if there was something wrong with it you know in this type of democracy that we operate it is usually said that the minority would have their say, but the majority would have their way. Even that's at the risk of the majority being wrong.
>> Yeah, there there's that point as well.
What I where I'm going to with all this my big grammar is the fact that if anybody tells you any APC member or anybody tells you that this was a contest, that's a lie. This is not a contest at all. What the APC tries to do especially with this election is to see how on ground they are as a political party. So this was not a primaries for contest between Stallio for whom members of the party don't even know with greater sense of respect and president Bolatinubu. This was to evaluate how well they are on ground. It's an assessment exercise and also to be what I call a electoral vote show force kind of. They were well put together. They registered 12 million votes according to them and then I think accredited >> 12 million registered members >> members yes registered members and then I think the people that are credited comes around 11 million almost 12 million and all so this had nothing to do with stallion this is APC trying to test the waters and saying okay I think we're ready to go as far as the 2027 election but it doesn't work that way even them they are not naive to know that it doesn't work of course I'm sure there are those geometric countings that happened in certain parts of the country like we saw in other primaries where from 1 to >> 1,00 >> and you know when it comes to elections that don't use beavers you see all kinds of numbers primaries of political parties like this local government election we have miraculous numbers so even the APC the ones who understand how this thing work they are not fooled they know where the real numbers are and where the real numbers are not so in my assessment I feel that in the coming election there are things that will work for or and work against the APC think they will work for and work against your position. The APC has the uphill task of proving to Nigerians where they've not been able to solve insecurity. The issue of the economy biting hard on people is also a great factor and that will involve a lot of protest votes as well.
But the opposition themselves, what is working against them is the ability to put their own house in order as opposition splitting their strength in so many direction that will work in the interest of the uh All Progressives Congress. So where I'm going to with all of the bal is the fact that don't be deceived. This was not direct primaries.
It's a contest between Stanley Oifo and President Batin. This was just the APC testing the waters. They're asking themselves how solid are we on ground and they've made up their mind. They know that some states they not going to win. They knows the states they will get 25% and all of that. And the numbers are now out. Um, you know, my dear friends, God, Mando, you know, he has said he's going to give the president 2.5 million votes in this primary. I don't think he gave the president to 200,000 from his.
That's why I tell you there's something called political hot air. I have studied this thing and nothing moves me easily like that. But is a politics is a game of numbers.
>> But but Jeffrey reach our doing their primary by the way.
>> Yeah. But but don't forget let's also mention that an ADC group they are loyal to Dumibik Kachiku has picked him as their presidential candidate for the 2023 election but would like to see you know what the outcome of the votes are from Edo states in particular before we conclude.
>> No it's 130 something thousand I will check the numbers. We we should check but uh it's it's important to point out that Governor MBO was not able to deliver 2.5 million votes in this >> saying he didn't say in this primary he said in quoting wrongly the morning shows the day Jeffrey if that can be done in 2027 he should be able to at least attempt it uh in 2020 >> he cannot uh can ahead of the president during the primary there is no let me let me put it No state in Nigeria, >> quote me, and I want to come back and say I'm wrong. There is no state in Nigeria, even the KKK cannot give the president 2.5 million votes.
>> They cannot give the president 2.5 million votes as things stands now except things change. And the president knows he's too smart, but he's going to take all those.
>> All right.
>> But another thing we should point out um before we exit this particular time out on the program is that the APC says it has been able to record uh over 12 million registered voters during his e-registration exercise. Hence what we have seen in this presidential primary where the president scored about 10.9 million votes, nearly 11 million votes.
Don't forget that in 2023 uh the popular vote in the presidential election the actual election for the APC uh for you know the incumbent who won at that time president Bolatinu was 8.7 94 million votes and so let's see if the APC will be able to return this feat in 2027 January I believe that's when the presidential election will hold able to repeat this feat at that time we should be looking at um the the the the numbers that have been turned out during this presidential primary and you know be able to tell whether indeed uh the primary election was uh credible, was conducted and those numbers are actually real figures and not geometric counting that we have seen shape this particular primary election especially for uh the All Progressives Congress. Uh indeed all other political parties conducted primaries uh you know over the weekend and we've seen some candidates emerge but Jeffrey it's a confusing situation and we must we'll dwell into it you know during our conversations much later on the program. We've seen uh some PDP members producing some candidates. Is it the wikileled PDP or is it the uh um Samuri PDP? We've also seen the ADC produce some candidates. Is it the Dome Kachiku group that are producing candidates or uh the if you like um uh former Senate President David Mark le group producing those candidates? So we should look at those process critically but we'll take a moment now right Jeffrey.
>> Yeah. of my confidence in being able to predict. In fact, when you get close to the election, I will I will not give you exact numbers from my own extrapolations of how the president and other parties may likely fare. I hope I'll be able to look at all of them. Tell you my confidence is the fact that as long as Beavers works, there a lot of things that you're hearing all these politicians that will not happen. Uh because the the beauty of beavers that I'm not saying people can't cheat but the way you rig because there will be rigging there will be violence there'll be all of that how the scale of it is different >> the way you rig in Nigerian election now you have to rig around the numbers on the beaver's machine >> so if there are a thousand registered persons at this polling unit 1,000 for instance of course you don't expect the entire 1,000 to come in most cases >> so you maybe see 500 person come out or 700 come to be accredited That's what the good thing about the visa. It's not like giving you ATM machine to go and withdraw money with my card. You have to be physically present.
>> Present.
>> That's to authenticate.
You can't do it on behalf of anyone. So that's the confidence I have in predicting these numbers. So uh when you now people now credit to have 1,700 or 500 if you have to rig you have to rig around that 700 however you want to do that mischievous thing. If you do 701, that election is cancelled in that polit.
>> Jeffrey, I'm not so confident. And you know why?
>> I have to be confident because of what we've been seeing already during this primaries. We've seen events ahead of this primaries where um you know, party members converge uh at a particular location uh you know as a at a political rally and they're they're getting envelopes in exchange for their beavers for their uh voters card. You know, so we've seen that already. So is that is that a a a pre-election inducement that is happening already?
>> There there will be inducement. There will be all kinds of shenanigans that will happen. There's you there's this much we can do because our institutions are not strong not even in I'm saying that with voter apathy with the records we have in terms of data we can we are doing somewhere around 25 to 35% we hardly do 40% of the entirety of the registered number of voters. So that's the premise I'm coming from. If you have to read, you have to read around the numbers. You can't read beyond the numbers. But the watchful eyes of the ESC and INC, we hope our polit politicians have become adept at maneuvering around.
>> But there was an election that happened I think in Ki state where they they brought a prefilled EC8A.
Yeah. E8 >> from ECA.
>> Yeah. I mean prefilled ink had to act quickly.
>> So we we'll be here. We'll do a series on how elections are read. I will in Nigeria. But we'll take a break. We'll be back after this. Stay with us.
I accept with profound humility and profound gratitude the nomination of our great party, the All Progressive Congress to stand again as your presidential candidate in the 2027 election.
Well, it's decided and of course things are gaining momentum already in the ruling All Progressives Congress ahead of the 2027 general election. Well, let's get to what the papers are saying, especially about the conduct of those party primaries that took place across board um in the All Progressives Congress and of course in other political parties over the weekend. And guess what? TGIF, TGIM, sorry, pardon me. That's how you know that Mr. Dakto joins us on the newspaper review segment this morning. And he's looking a lot like Jeffrey. Very mundish. Very >> mund.
>> It's a new beginning. Monday is always a new beginning.
>> Always a new beginning.
>> Absolutely.
>> So let's get to it. Mr. Kito, this Nigeria is our first paper. Tinubu. I also lose sleep weight over economy.
Admits insecurity in the country. Vows to fight it. APC presents president with 2027 nomination certificate. I'm sure there's a lot for you to chew on this morning. Uh it's uh his disposition or acknowledgement about the challenge of insecurity in the country and of course those numbers. Mr. Kob, we've had a good time talking about it, but I'm interested in your thoughts about those numbers as well. 10.9 million. The thing that occurred to me was how do you count 10 11 million votes one by one by one in a few hours? Do you know how many 11 million really is? This is a fantastically large amount of numbers and to think that the way they counted them was head by head by head. I think it would have been a logistical nightmare to actually have been able to collate count and collate that many votes in that short a period of time.
Even when we have the general elections that have just doubled that quantity and of course they've got the logistical strength to cover the entire country, they they're not able to count them that quickly and they've got technology on their side. this one was manual. So those numbers might be a bit fantastic in terms of they might just be estimates but the bottom line was as Jeff said which I agree with um the APC tested the >> you know what that's a very beautiful way you fit him for saying they lied.
>> There are certain things you can't say on national television.
>> Absolutely. So, but I I listened to the president and and I like the fact that he was empathetic towards our situation and what I saw was him roll the dice on basically his record, his performance in the first four years and said, "Look, trust me, I know that things are tough and there there are four primary things.
There's inflation, there's fuel price, there's insecurity, and there's unemployment."
And those four things are ravaging the country at this point in time. And he's saying trust me the steps I have taken will ease these hardships that I will continue down the line I have started.
And I assure you that by the time the second four years are done, you'll begin to see relief. So 2027 is going to run on how many people still hold out hope for that to happen versus how many people are tired and feel hopeless already. So um it's actually quite easy now the the line is drawn between the incumbent who's going to run on his record and the opposition who's going to assail that very record and speak to Nigerians and say look is your life better off today than it was 4 years ago. The thing that I see coming out of this in spite of the way the opposition looks fractured. I think the opposition is better organized for 2027 than it was in 2023. Especially if the PDP can get his house in in in order. I think that the opposition is more organized. I mean, we heard that former Cross River Governor Donald Duke threw his hat in the ring over the weekend uh through the PRP >> PRP.
>> PRP, People's Redemption Party, that's Amino. We've already got Shahim Kind running under the APM. Uh well >> APM PDP >> ATM PDP it's a high APM and a group of the PD a group of the PDP but now you have to posit it clearly seems to be confused and seems to be stumbling from one crisis to the next.
Um the Dumei Kachuku section said they suspended the NWC of David Mark who are having their primary today to pick between Hayatuin Aichi and Atiku >> but the convention of the Dumi Kachuku section had their own convention yesterday and chose him. So ADC might have two presidential candidates. Are they just throwing a spanner in the works of the senator David Mark led ADC because you know it's their names that are on the Ink website as the regist uh recognized officials of the party.
>> Yeah, they the recognized leaders of the party without a doubt but remember that Dumi Kachuku's point his position from the beginning has been that they elbowed their ways into the party. They didn't um they weren't properly elected. The fact that INC has them uh in the leadership of the party does not mean that the general um body of the party cannot suspend its NWC. The question is did Bumi Kachuku and those people who took that action yesterday did they have the locus?
Are they bonafideed party members? Who did they have a quorum? What does their constitution say about suspending the NWC? who are those who have uh the authority to do that. So the fact that you are in the leadership does not mean if the general party is disgruntled with your leadership, they can't replace you.
So we'll wait and see in the coming days. It'll be interesting. But I worry a bit about the ADC because this split is worsening their situation. We thought that with the court ruling that came the other day, everything was sorted. But clearly um see this is the problem with just moving into an already existing party. There are people who already there before you came and unless you make your bones with all of them to where everybody has a clear understanding of where they stand, you're going to have these issues. Look, um even the NDP that is new that Peter NDC, there's already issues. They already coming up with complaints and oh we were here even if we were here just two days before you came. You were here before you and we work for this party.
So how can you just come in and think you're going to going to take over? So these are some of the issues that we are containing.
>> You know why I'm smiling?
>> Yes.
>> I'm smiling because this is the season of political hot air and hustling.
>> Yes.
>> So you make up your mind who are the hustlers and who are the real politician. I will not say that. Second is everything will boil down to what the law says.
>> Yeah.
>> Because INC will look at who the law said they should recognize irrespective of whatever you want to do. Whether you're in PDP, APC, NDC, AD, uh what's the other party? APM >> 8 p.m.
>> P now P and all of that.
>> Yes.
>> The worry is that the opposition may be walking into what the president would like them to walk into a divided house.
>> And uh because that is the only and perhaps the strongest reason why Bolatinu became president. A divided house.
>> Yes.
>> And so now it looks like you know the last night it was >> three of two. let's just say two and now it looks like it's going to be more but whether those ones will be able to pull the votes is a different kettle of fish.
>> Yes, that's and you look at like the PRP now that just over this weekend and you ask yourself what does Donald Duke really think he can accomplish in terms of coming numbers coming in this late >> with greatest respect.
>> Yeah, absolutely. He's been out of politics for a couple of decades now almost and he's coming in very late. The thing about it is even despite the fact that the federal high court rolled back this notion of the time time is still very short September probably and we still have court cases you know all these cases all these situations >> and can react to that high court ruling at any time I tell you no will definitely have to react between now and the 30th >> and he could have turned the scheme of things as we know >> they for now based on that court judgment has no choice uh they have only one option to appeal the case or stay execution or just implement if they don't want all the headache. Absolutely.
You know, I think it's not as if anything did is totally wrong. It's just that they wanted to put their house in order, >> but the law says why are you doing this when there's supposed to be more time, you know, but let's go to daily trust.
>> Okay.
>> Daily trust ADC presidential primaries had to battle for tickets. Yes, we've talked about that and so let's focus on this ADC for a moment that you mentioned because they look like it's you know it's a very interesting party to look at because for you know they built a moment a momentum that Nigerians were like okay I think APC should be worried now until you know people like and left the party now do has led his people to say he's the sole presidential candidate David Mark is the one recognized the gentleman Nafio Gome now they say let's see accelerated he say want to change judge just a conundrum of confusion. What do you make of it?
>> Absolutely. ADC at one point was looking like the beautiful bride. Everybody was jumping into into the ADC um you know orbit and um it looks like I talked about I called it a spanner in the works. I said I said said let's watch out for spanners and the spanners have come and they've come relentlessly and it looks like the ADC now has lost its momentum is they've taken the wind out of the sales of the ADC with all this contention. I it wouldn't surprise me if it's sponsored because at one point it was really looking like it was coming together as a formidable opposition and in politics look all's fair and equal in love and war. in politics you um deploy um your strength where you can and so if you are uh seeing the APC a ADC as a threat it's incumbent upon you to do whatever is legal that doesn't mean it's ethical or is moral but as long as it's legal >> in politics all fair and and equal so if the opposition I mean if the incumbent is playing a role in destabilizing the ADC then it's politics as usual but it's unfortunate because I think now if they had been able to coales around the ADC the way it started out in the beginning where all the opposition people were all congregating there when OP went there at went there a mi went there we saw we saw we saw mo there were some big heavyweight names >> across the Nigerian political spectrum that were all gathering >> the tier ones and the tier twos and the tier three all tears were all gathering under ADC and so that burgeoning movement became very scary because it it was becoming a formidable force. So spanners were thrown in the works and they've been very effective in destabilizing the ADC which as of this moment there's no certainty about what's going to happen with the ADC. We may end up with two presidential candidates from the same party. We just may >> well let's see how that plays out. I I don't know how much time they've got, you know, to head to the courts again to determine the outcome of that. But let's go to the Abuja Inquirer this morning.
And I'm spoiled for choice, uh, you know, on which stories to highlight.
We've exhausted that of the ADC and the presidential primaries of the APC. But take a look at this. While of course, by the way, party members in the APC are urging votes for Mr. president saying he will consolidate on the reforms. I in fact heard um you know the minister of health campaigning in Bouchi say if Bouchi goes the same way it went there will be continued suffering but that that suffering can be lifted in 2027. It looks like suffering now has a new definition Mr. Kitoi >> rising energy costs FCT residents resort to charcoal firewood and this is the federal capital >> so if the federal capital is resorting to this what's happening with the energy crisis in other parts of the country >> well before we go to other parts of the country you're talking about charcoal and firewood for the FCT how about the main place in the FCT as villa that is totally on solar and has got off the grid >> grid >> so if they've set an example for all of us that Hey guys, go and find alternative means of power because we ourselves in the villa have discovered that electricity is too expensive, energy is too expensive for us. So we found an alternative. You guys go and find an alternative and so people are getting creative. I mean charcoal when was the last time even when I was you know still in diapers was the last time I heard of charcoal being used as a form of generating energy in the village. Well, in the village is still used, but in in in in urban areas, when have you ever even seen I can't even remember what charcoal looks like. I just think >> No, it's not about >> I knew you were going to do that.
>> Forgive I forgive you. I think it's black though.
>> That much I remember. I think he's black. But yeah, charcoal, firewood in the cities, you now see solar panels on every rooftop. I mean yesterday for example where it rained cats and dogs in Lagos I felt sorry for all the solar people they couldn't get any sun so they had no power in their homes and they were >> besides they lose their peace whenever there's a thunderstorm solar solar power owners you know they're racing and wondering what's happening they're going outside to check >> yeah so we were all the same those of us who are still on the grid we had no electricity and the solar people couldn't generate power because it was a rainy day so you know we're stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea you know it's just not a good situ situation all the way around. But look, the minister of darkness has left to go and run for government.
>> Oh dear. I didn't see that.
>> So perhaps apologies. And he lost the will now get a minister of light.
>> All of them who who resigned from the president's cabinet. They all lost. And I don't know why they >> But there were two who who >> That's a feedback.
>> There were two who made it. There were two.
>> Yeah.
>> From the present cabinet. Yes. Which state is that?
>> I can't I can't recall.
Maybe the popular ones.
>> There were two. No, no, no, not the I'd never heard their names before. Really?
>> Because I didn't see the uh minister that resigned winning the um primary in Tuger.
>> Did not win to the best.
>> No, no. Tug did not win. Minister of Foreign Affairs.
>> Yeah, he didn't win.
>> He could not have won.
>> Did not win as well. At least he didn't win so far. He didn't win. Who now won?
I think that gentleman I think transportation that I barely knew his name.
>> Might be him.
>> No, he didn't. I don't think he won.
Well, there were two. I promise you.
>> The former minister of Minister of State for Labor, the the female minister. Did she win her primary?
>> Yes. Yes. Yes. The female.
>> I mean, the ones that are running for governor.
>> Governor? Yeah.
>> No, she's not running for governor. She wants to return to the National Assembly. Assembly.
>> No. I I'm focus I'm focusing on the government. The ones that want to be governor, not Okay. No. No. I don't think any of them.
>> With the greatest respect. That means I transfer. I don't even know his name.
>> Mr. Mr. Seedo Alcali.
>> Okay. Okay.
>> I I hope I'm right.
>> The ones I'm talking about No, no. I'm talking about the ones who wanted to be governors.
>> You know what, Jeffrey? That's a cue for our production team. We need to do a tally of those who have.
>> No, we're waiting. It's very deliberate because let the party come out with a list, complete list. Since they say it's end, we now know what to do.
>> It's an ongoing process. And of course, for those who didn't win, that's a feedback for the administration as we have done a round of feedback of what Nigerians are saying about some of the leading stories. I must thank Mr. Daki for coming through to put us put the stories in perspective. He's a journalist and public affairs analyst.
Thank you.
>> Thank God it's Monday.
>> Yeah. TGIm.
>> Absolutely.
>> And so we'll take a moment now. When we return, we'll begin. Yes. We'll continue our analysis of the conduct of the primaries. So stay with us. We'll be right back.
Welcome back. Let's continue with our conversation around the politics uh of Nigeria. Let's bring in our guest, the public and political affairs analyst, Mr. Gay Ojo. Mr. Ojo, good morning and welcome to the program.
>> Good morning, Jeffrey. Good morning, you call it's a pleasure happy new week >> wishing you the very same I don't know which of them you monitored of course the APC primaries happened at the weekend the may kuku groups has also picked him as a sole candidate we also are seeing that the ADC led by David Mark will their primaries today we're seeing you know it's it's a season of primaries but I don't know which of them because we're spoiled for choice so perhaps let's start with the big one the APC uh the president 10.99 or so million votes secured across the 36 states and the FCT uh for the primaries and the president has appreciated his his members members of the party and the leadership uh for believing in him for re-election but let's interrogate the numbers as well what do you make of it >> thank you very much so past two days I observed the the MPC presidential primary here in FCT on the offices of the Koka center. So were two that were deployed and on Saturday I went around the federal capital territory and yesterday the entire yesterday I was one of the accredited observer at the presidential production center theatino international conference center here in Abuja. I can tell you without any fear of publication that what was done in the last two days was uh at best symbolic very very symbolic those figures are just uh I'm I'm trying not to say they were cooked because it bears no direct connection to the reality that was from God. There is no election primaries that people only got to know the mode on the eve. Um it was only on Friday that the party came out to say oh we are going to be doing direct primaries. There was no platform knowledge whether what was going to happen was uh consensus or direct until maybe Thursday or Friday. So where then how then did they mobilize out of supposed 12 million uh registered voter they were able to get 11 million uh plus to come out and vote. I went around F city on on on on Saturday afternoon. I went to Kuba. I went to central area. I went to area 10. I went to Amak sector.
I did not see any activity.
I did not. In fact, at the Kuba um world where I used to vote when I was living in that community which was supposed to be the world center. uh we were told no activity happened at that place. So we went around and eventually we we we we now waited till yesterday and the figure for FCT uh we were told that FCT recorded 36,13 vote for Mr. President.
I don't know where that figure comes out but beyond beyond the figures when you also look at probability of the turnout how possible is it to have over 90% turnout in a election that even most party members they don't know the voting centers how did that happen so you have huge purportedly hedge turnout in many states. Look at rivers. Rivers had 23 local government.
Some of these local government are on the river line. Yes, by 300 p.m. or thereabout there was an announcement of total number of vote cast even in a conducted election where you are supposed to move result from pol from from pol to world level coalition to local government coalition down to uh the state coalition. In this election, they said the elections were held at world level. At what point did they were they able to move uh result from world coalition to local government coalition before the state collation and yet you were able to return huge figures before dusk. So I I think they just did this to we will look at look out for how the general elections will pan out. But suffice to say that what I saw uh was just a caliber assault yesterday.
The young man OP was not even allowed to give a concession speech. Uh he was there. He enjoyed his five minutes of fame. He was interviewed by different media. But I thought they would have even given him few minutes to speak to you know how he felt and all of that.
But uh all the governors were there. The the only thing I saw was that only senator was the attorney officer out of 31 uh 36 states. only I was the of course we know that all the governors are male so and they are the collition officers but at least in in the in the five other states there were no woman to even serve as collision officer except in an amra then we we we we saw that uh this whole thing was just a coronation a coronation somebody spent $100 million to to score 16,000 um 16,53 and vote and in in 21 states the guy got zero in 21 states he got zero in his native he got only one vote but as I said on other media platform uh it's within his right to throw his money whichever way some are incinating that he was sponsored there are no evidence to that to show that so I will walk within the remmit of what we know that he is a businessman he has invested his 100 million and uh for whatever his worth at least today we are talking about him he has put his family name on the map on the electoral map of Nigeria anytime we are talking about this 2020 uh seven election we are going to be talking about a young man called uh Lifu that that contested against the president. So if that is the name he wants to make that made him to invest that mumbous sum of money is within his right to do so. But I think the election could have been more competitive if uh the APC had taken more time to plan it.
I do not see credibility in an open uh um open ballot where people just uh queue behind the picture or the candidate and we have seen the geometric counting of numbers in the earlier primaries that were conducted where somebody will move from 57 then 25 50 75 150 and then before you know you look at the queue the queue number on the queue may not have been more than 100 and then you are declaring that the number of people voted were 1,000 plus meanwhile there's no independent way of verifying if you want to contest that outcome will you go and call all the people back and start counting fresh which is why the so-al option for model is antithetical to democracy and it also opens up to intimidation because The global standard is that it must be secret ballot. It has to be secret ballot. I don't think for the humongous resources that APC gathered from sales of nomination fund.
If they have planned this adequately and they know that they have over 12 million people on their register. I think they should have been able to print ballot paper a customized ballot paper for two.
And then in many states I watch I I I was on several media platform on on Saturday in many states there agent of oipo who are not even anywhere to to be found. I don't think he even have agent across the 8,89 political world where the election was set to and yesterday the guy that stood as his agent was just conceding to everything that Senator was saying talking with him and are you okay? Do you have any issue? No issue.
Fine fine fine. Everything was just uh stage manic. But I wish A F A F A F A F A F A F A F A F A F A FC well in their in their general election.
>> Yes. And you know some of your submissions or assessions if you like about the 10.9 million votes cannot be ignored. I'm just doing a mathematical uh calculation or if you like division here and I'm saying 11 million divided by 37 will give you 297,000 plus. So um that's assuming that there were 237 97,000 plus people coming out in each state and the FCT and that number is more than what you know some winners and governorship election uh turnout in terms of you know uh total votes cast that amount to them getting victory in the election. So is that the case in this particular election? But we'll leave that to you know um continuous projections and reasonings uh online as the conversation continues.
But what are your uh you know projections about what would happen in the case of the ADC presidential primary that will be taking place soon I guess a backdrop of what we've seen from another group of the ADC where um they have returned Mr. Dumi Kachiku as their presidential candidate you know amid the other litigation matters you know shaping the leadership challenge of that part political party the reality that stars us in the face is that there seems not to be any major opposition in Nigeria any longer h what is doing is what is called m I don't want to say they are mad but the m here is mutually assured destruction and and in that kind of crabism where each of the factions are you know trying to pull each other down pay this syndrome pull him down pull her down uh is if it's not my way it's my way they cannot make any meaningful impact because this whole thing will go back to the court and the thing will start dragging even if agrees with justice mama woman's uh judgment or last week and decided to allow for uh more registration of members and even extend the time for party primaries.
This crisis in ADC is not about to go anytime soon unless they are able to find a creative way of uh resolving this out of court. And this is why I will advise them to go uh perhaps to neck to avail themselves of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism that is available to them because by the time you have two factions nominating as candidate uh well in most likely take the one that gives is uh is the one that the court has endorsed. But we should not continue to have democracy by court order. Which is why I think in the opinion of some people they they put in that session 835 which has now said that internal affairs of political parties are not justiceable. I mean that you cannot litigate on internal affairs of political party and this uh from what justice choice Abd Malik said about two weeks ago uh this issue of nomination may actually fall within the internal affairs of political party which is why even those who are thinking of leaving a APC to go and join other parties should be wary because now party primary is underway. you go join a party today, you are given waivers. Some people may have even court forms and all of that. So at the end of the day, you are most likely going to face a lot of either litigation or you know internal wranglings and this may even lead to uh party membershing party which is if they cannot even get justice at the court maybe because of that section 83 sub5 and because of Supreme Court decision that issue of internal affairs of political parties is not something that the court should entertain. They may not leave the party door. They will work against the party.
And that's that brings us to the proverb proverbs that while the the the leper may not be able to make a cow, it can actually spill the meat and that's the role some of these people are going to be playing. So I I think it is in the enlightened best interest of ADC uh leadership to try and call uh different faction together and find a amicable resolution. Already ADC is a wounded, weakened and as you say crippled party as it were especially after that May third exit of uh uh council and PB because they formed the B the B of people who actually are the soul and admit of AP agency were moved out of THAT AND YOU SAW What happened by it and left on the third Sunday May 12th by 5th about 18 house of rest member left and 17 out of those 18 house of rest member that left defected from ADC to uh NDC.
So how many elected serving member and in ADC as of today?
So in fact I let me borrow what senator uh Aabio said after some ADC senators also left uh the I think the day after the house of reps drama. He said it's like ADC is technically dead. I I can't I can't with my foot is dead. But with this kind of factionalization where they are now going to be presenting two uh candidates, it will be dangerous for them to pose a serious threat to the ruling party. The same thing is is playing out in >> SCP also has two candidate presidential candidate as last week. There is and then there's one or is it Kazim that a different faction the Gaban faction and another faction are so so m let's look at perhaps the the challenges all the parties because we need to point out where all the parties are weak so that they will know how they can strengthen so I'm going to list maybe a few of the parties that comes to mind APC uh given what has played out with all the primaries from the national to the state assembly to the governorship and all of that. What should they be looking out for as what may affect them? ADC we already know but maybe can reinforce it. NDC itself I think now we have PRP somewhere in the mix. Uh I think maybe these four permit me if I remember PDP I forgotten PDP my my PDP >> PDP PDP is suffering from the same mines as ADC as well as even SDP. So there there are also two factions of a um PDP that is selling for the Kabrai faction and then the Muhammed Muhammed whatever is the surname the faction loyal to Wik is also selling the same thing is happening Muhammed Abama the same thing in Labor party remember that last week the faction loyal to is warning the Julius Abra faction not to be selling We learn that Abur's faction is giving out free nomination to people. This has this has greatly weakened the opposition. NDC is about the only party that can pose serious threat to the APC in 2027 as today. That is my reason. But for APC, he should be wary of the enemy within. There are many who lost out in the just concluded primaries who are bitter who may not be able to leave the party but they may engage in antiparty activities because you know these people pay huge sums of money. Imagine you pay 100 million, you pay uh 50 million for governorship and then you are disqualified under one rules using one excuse or the other. Uh people pay 20 million for senatorial election. Midway into that election, you hear that your name has been you have been disqualified. Look at the wishywashy there was a list that was released by Felis Ba that contained the names of Bruce. Later that same evening when the primary was holding they now say oh Bruce's names has been removed we don't know h a lot is happening in nasawa in inaba in in quara they have to do a lot of fence mening and I'm glad professor naw yada said that they embark on serious reconciliation because a lot of people everywhere in APC today abused They are bitter. They are they they are not happy with the turn of events.
Particularly for those who um moved from the opposition to the ruling party in anticipation that they were going to have it easy getting the party ticket.
But it is it is the norm every four years for any ruling party even for the 16 years of PDP. We saw similar scenario playing out. People are usually bitter.
They are unhappy. They are they they are threatening fire and brimstone after every primary because they felt they were unjust unjustifiably skill screened out. UH BUT BY and large uh this is this is a game over for the opposition unless unless they are able to pull their ass together maybe rally behind NDC because it will seem like I don't I think PRP is not having any internet issue a is not having any internet issue APM is not having any internet issue cell is not having internet issue but at least today if they can unite under one umbrella and give very serious support to whoever emerges under NDC. Maybe they can pose a serious threat to uh President Batinu whom we knew way back in May 2025 is actually the anointed candidate of APC.
So what happened yesterday like I said was just a cannibal of sort a coronation. It was already predetermined more than a year ago that tin will be the presidential candidate for APC. But Mr. Ojo, even if the All Progressives Congress initiates a reconciliation um you know panel as it has promised to do to address some of the outstanding concerns that have come through from this primary. Uh and you know the disgruntled still decide to head to court based on section 88 sub five. I believe you know to seek redress. Will anything significantly change because we have seen you know the variations of the court verdicts to similar issues based on you know the political parties that have brought it forward. In the case of Dogo Fub Fub for instance his case was dismissed even though it was based on wrongful uh uh nomination. So are you optimistic that the courts can grant accelerated hearing and even if they did will justice really come you know based on the pattern of verdicts that we have seen so far.
>> Unfortunately our court system is not predictable anymore. uh you would one can say without with any certainty that if uh similar facts are presented that judges will rule or give judgment in in a like manner. So I I will leave that to the but you see what I've also believed what I've also seen in this field for over 26 years I've been involved in h lectural uh assistance and technical support and training research advocacy what I've seen is that courts cannot impose justice uh it has to be among the agreed we have seen Supreme Court decisions being ignored.
Look at the case of Labor Party. Supreme Court has given a decision. Look at the case of um which other parties? Several parties that Supreme Court will give a decision and yet they will be interpreting it one way or the other.
Oh, this is not what the Supreme Court said. This is what the Supreme Court said. So if the final court in the has given a judgment and they are still not satisfied, where else do you want to go and appeal? So I think the political class amongst themselves must do everything to protect this democracy and not allow it to to to to fall because uh unless they behave themselves and allow for you know amicable resolution of their internal conflict or even interparty conflict. They may endanger this democracy and we should not hope for that because we have seen what has happened in some of the Indian states like uh you know manaf we don't want that in Nigeria so the Nigerian political class must rise above pettiness and internal wranglings and and subject themselves to alternative disp resolution let the party leaders come in uh because as you as you may know are going through the court system can be very tedious, can be very time wasting. The courts are not there sitting to wait for political matters to be brought before them. Courts have a lot of civil cases, criminal cases that are being disrupted by the political class. Every matter they file is disrupting the dockets of their lordship BECAUSE NO NO JUDGE IS looking for no no judge is looking for cases. They are not they not paid on the number of cases they are able to entertain every month. They pay their their salaries are paid irrespective of how many cases or how many sitting they have in a month. But the political class out of their inability to behave themselves are the one that are congesting the court system. Which is part of the reason why that section 83 subsection 5 may have been inserted to protect the integrity of the court and make sure that people explore the internal conflict resolution mechanism of their respective uh political parties rather than rushing to the court. We have I like in ADC they have about 13 cases in the court 13 cases you know the one from Juko the one from and several others that you don't even get to know until when the judgment is given this cannot be healthy for our democracy they should please save us this eating up of the policy behave themselves and if they dissatisfied with one party they have every right to move to another party we have 22 register parties in Nigeria and it is people that make the party. Uh today APM has a a governor in his vote. Today a party has a governor in his as a result of internal rankings in another party that has made these people to go and seek shelter in another platform. No PS there any labor parties there um even the newly registered parties there about about three of them that are newly registered that you can go and join with that small so people should just just try and help us not to eat up the quality unnecessarily >> all right uh Mr. joke. It's well I say early in the day not really. There's a lot coming up. Uh so we're looking at uh what is going to play out in the coming days as far as the politics is concerned whether or not in will respond. Well, INC will definitely respond. They really don't have a choice. So they will know what we're dealing with in terms of primaries and submission of names with political parties given the judgment uh that came through last weekend.
>> Mr. Ojo, thank you for coming on the program. J is a public affairs and political affairs analyst has been on ground for decades when it comes to Nigeria's election. Thank you, sir.
>> My pleasure. Have a joyful week.
>> We will take a break and when we come back, we'll continue that trajectory of examining what has played out at the weekend. Stay with us.
Welcome back. And so let's get to some of the things that you have been talking about online and of course in the mainstream um newspapers and you know we begin with security. It's a mixed bag really. First of all this is cherry.
Let's start with the good one as troops say uh that they have rescued 92 kidnapped victims from Bokh Haram is terrorists along the Burate Camoya road in B local government area of Boronu state. And all 92 kidnapped victims comprise 52 male, 33 female, and seven children along with eight vehicles that were successfully recovered. But it's not the same story of restbite coming for uh residents of Quir State. Uh over the weekend, there were reports that bandits attacked a prayer ground, killed three and abducted 15. And this occurred at the Uroi Aayi prayer ground in the outskirts of Iko village in Ikit local government area of the state. Sadly, three worshippers were killed while 15 others uh were abducted and um we're waiting for the Quir State Police Command uh to confirm this attack and of course we're going to be trailing this particular story uh in the coming days.
So uh that's as far as security is concerned from Borunu and Quir Boru where we have seen the rescue of 92 kidnapped victims uh uh in B local government area of the state. Jeffrey you have the next one.
>> Yeah absolutely. uh just uh well the issue of security is very it's always heartbreaking but when we record success is always very cherry uh as far as this is concerned but my trouble is always the fact that the ease of mass abduction I'm not going to stop saying it the ease at with which these guys can abduct certain number of persons 20 people 30 50 100 and the record number I think in papri which we always reference about 300 persons successfully is is very disturbing. It's extremely concerning. Uh it just speaks to whether or not the state is utilizing its strength as the monopoly, the one with the monopoly of violence. But we hope we can get out of this because it is the people in the rural areas, the very defenseless, voiceless people, you know, regular Nigerians who are victims of these things most of the time. In fact, almost 96 95% of the time there are very few times you have high-profile persons whether that is why perhaps they are not understanding or appreciating or you know empathizing that should be the right word with the people but when people are caught who are perpetrating this evil especially the ideological terrorist um the Nigerian army and the military knows exactly what to do. They know exactly what to do. Uh so when they arrest we appreciate when they neutralize we appreciate when they rescue we also do appreciate. Want to come to a time bala where we can reference now and say ah do you remember when it used to be an everyday phenomenon of some form of kidnap abduction killing all the other but we're not there yet.
>> We are still lost in this painful situation and I don't think the government is doing enough. No, no, no.
The military are trying their best.
Government is not doing enough.
>> Certainly not.
>> And when I hear the government complaining about we know who is responsible subsidy cabal, it it just makes me gets me pissed off.
>> Uh we're tired of you knowing who is responsible. Just get the job done.
>> Whether you're the president or governor or whatever it is, get the job done.
>> Speak to the general sense of fear and lack of safety, not just in Nigeria's north now, but uh everywhere. I I wonder if you know you caught up with some of the reports. Some of them we need to to verify uh from uh Nigeria Southwest where children are seen you know running and some of them have been dispelled you know as um you know a a a concern that was not founded on true uh insecurity but many more are coming through of children running trying to escape bandits. Uh we I saw another over the weekend, you know, security operatives fing some children to safety, but because of the number of children uh that were trying to get away from a scary situation, those security operatives could not, you know, get all of them into that particular open air van. And so, uh in the southwest as well, there's an increasing sense of general lack of safety. And you know, politicking must also be combined with governance. It appears as if uh the more important areas of governance, the delivery of the dividends of sec democracy, the simplest being um security of life and property is eluding Nigerians right now. And so what conversations are being heard behind the scene? Uh is the security council meeting going to be convened anytime soon to address this matter of insecurity? uh beyond you know positioning that um insecurity is being sponsored you know to unsettle the administration and stop the president from campaigning. People are being killed. The oyor teachers and residents of Ur local government are still in captivity even as we speak. Uh it's sad that you know in this time we've seen a mother clutch to her clutching her son who was murdered. We've seen um the video of a a teacher slaughtered, you know, posted on live television. These are times when, you know, the elected should be alarmed at what is happening across Nigeria. And so we reiterate that there's a general sense of uh insecurity, not just in Nigeria's north now, but everywhere Nigerians are saying nobody is safe.
We hope we can get out of this waters.
This very difficult waters as we do our politics and politicking. Well, it's part of the systems, out of the polity, but more importantly, let's have the people safe. I remember when the president visited Plateau, what I call the flyby visit, not the condolence visit in my view, but he made promises and when he told the lady that look this is not going to happen again. I in my head I like no president don't say that.
You cannot assure that and as though I knew what was going to happen about 24 hours later I think in RIM local government he killed somebody and later we also had another incident. So the Nigerian state has not done well in protecting our citizens the way it should. There are efforts but not enough. Let's bring in another of our colleague Pangbo joins us from Mccodi the Bueno state capital. There's going to be a lot of political and governance talk today on the program. So follow us to the on the program. Uh Mr. Sang, thank you so much for coming on the program.
>> Thank you, Jeffrey. Welcome to Benway.
>> Yeah. Yes. Uh, you know, Ben is an interesting state. Uh, what comes to mind is Governor High Center and George A. Let's begin with that. Have they been able to their sword? We've been seeing videos, you know.
>> Well, uh, we we party primaries have come and gone. Uh, candidates have emerged. Um but contrary to the outcome of the peace meeting that the SGF had with the governor a few weeks back that states that the SGF said the president's directive was that all national assembly and state assembly members should be returned uh first choice it should be given first of first refusal and be returned automatic uh members while the governor gets the support of all the party stakeholders. Uh you recall that the governor had said while responding to that question that it was a prayer made by the SGF to the APC in Ber state and that such was only available for the national um working committee to approve. Uh this followed through and went to the elections um of the house of representative members currently 11 of them is um only two that got tickets to return. Okay. Three that got tickets to return four. Four now. Yeah. that got ticket to return back to the national assembly. Um only the wife of the SGF who is from the camp of the SGF made that list. The rest are those who are with the governor that got the re-election back um to the national assembly in the primaries. And then um the assembly members less than 10 of them are the ones who return. Majority of those coming back are also uh new um aspirant candidate now that you have.
But the APC seem to have handled everything well. uh when we spoke with the SGF he said that the focus of the party is to unite work for the presidents and the structure of the party to be in one piece that they do not want faction going to the 2027 election and I think that um whatever be the case the SGF and the governor have iron that out um candidates have emerged these have been sent to Abuja we await for the outcome of that so on the front here in APC there isn't any issue about party crisis anymore because it's the next phase of the composition we'll be looking at.
>> So um let's also get to the other political parties in Benway the PDP to be precise. We saw the former attorney general and minister of justice emerge uh victorious as the candidate of the PDP. Talk to us about that process and which PDP group is he representing?
Okay. Uh to talk about the emergence of uh former attorney general minister of justice uh Mr. Mr. Kas Michaela who is uh the PDP governorship candidate. Uh before now Mr. Casia was in APC under the the group loyal to the SGF and when the former governor Samuel Lo left office there was this discussion about um strategic partnership between the PDP led by Governor Samuel Lo former governor Samuel Lo which is lawyer and led by FCT minister Mr. on week and the SGF group of the APC that they were going to collaborate to work together ahead of 2027 elections and so the the attorney general former attorney general minister of justice Mr. was fratonizing between the SGFA APC and the autumn le PDP and it became obviously clear that he was the candidate to push. So he migrated from the APC into the PDP mainstream before its primaries begun and um they had consensus issues discussed among themselves because there were about eight governorship aspirants in PDP then but as yesterday which was the roundup of all the nominations in the PDP in Benway uh Mr. And was unanimously returned and affirmed as the PDP governorship candidate who will be standing in in the 2027 general election against governor and Alia. Recall that Governor Alia had kicked out the PDP from government house in 2023 over um the political situations you had then.
So these are the two great men going to the elections in Ben. But I can tell you the PDP in Ben just a moment.
>> Yeah, just a moment uh because of time.
Let let's let's bring in Charles up room from Port Hackard. Always an interesting state uh when it comes to Nigerian politics. Intriguing Charles, good morning and welcome to the program. Uh walk us through how things play out played out in River State. We've seen the governor uh despite not getting the ticket of the party. He's been really involved at least from the video we've seen involved in as a collision officer went all the way to Abuja. What are the nuances politically happening? But uh more of more interest again is what's playing out within the ADC. Is there a faction in the ADC as well because I know that a gentleman uh pidomson I think that's his name emerged as a candidate and I also understand that there's also Farah Dogo who is also interested in being governor. Walk us through that as well.
You know, it's very interesting because um the ADC had just concluded their their primary election for the governorship um that was covered by my colleague Debbie, but of course we follow up as well. Um and yes, the former secretary to the river state government, Mr. Thomson emerged as candidates as announced by um members of the national working committee election monitoring team that were sent down to River State, you know, to conduct that particular um election. So um and and the next thing we we saw was you know we saw Faroo's people also come out to say you know maybe it looked like they were trying to make some make their voices heard you know cuz he also had indicated interest in becoming um the governorship candidate of the ADC. Recall that yesterday another faction of the ADC held a parallel convention you know upstairs right there in Abuja led by uh Dumi Kachuku. So I don't know if that is trickling down here but so far so good.
We've not had a faction come out here in River State to say we are now you know the ADC leadership and the state executive uh committee as of this moment. So that is that from the ADC.
The ADC appear to be you know stable.
They appear to have their act in order as of this moment. So what of course you saw um you did mention the coalition of uh uh the presidential primary as put together by the chief collision officer in the state his excellency governor similar um he came you know delivered uh the results announced the winner and declared the president the winner you know but something interesting happened that day you know apart from the governor there were some other heavyweights in the building the likes of Senator Magnus Abby the likes of Chief Victor Gadom the governor was also flanked the chairman of the party here in River State and there were a lot of local government chairman most of them we know are loyal to the FCT minister. Now when the governor came in of course he is the governor you have to respect him regardless of uh whatever you know political disagreements you may be having with him but as the governor was leaving the hall as he was just leaving he hadn't even gotten into his vehicle when you know the other people uh started singing and chanting um you know river is very good with passing political messaging through songs you know and then you started hearing them singing um uh what's the song singing and chanting they come you know some I thought they were mocking the governor you know but he just got into his vehicle and left so if you watch the videos you'll see the likes of honorable de Lloyd leading their supporters hunting and singing and all that so yeah that happened you know within the past uh 72 hours or thereabouts >> interesting development there so Charles can we say that this vote tally of 280,000 plus uh that went to the president in the presidential primary came through a collection of votes of the APC and the rainbow coalition of well Mr. Wiki in River State.
>> Well, the rainbow coalition is believed or supposed to be a an alliance across political divides. So it's supposed to be an alliance between people's democratic party loyal to the FCT minister and the all progressives congress loyal to the FCT minister as well. Okay. Now but as I understand those who are supposed to vote in the APC primaries are card carrying members of the All Progressives Congress as is stipulated by their constitution. And every single um uh primary election I've monitored from the assembly to the house of reps to the senatorial to the governorship and now to the presidential they always announce and say oh please wave your membership card and you see them to wave your membership card and then they have to authenticate. In some cases the people actually the the the the voters go to the table and you say your name they look for your name and then they tick. But in the case of um in one of the other cases in Opia, you know, they were just announcing so and so president. So I was watching to see who was actually answering present. It seems like every single name that was called, you hear four, five voices shouts present, you know. So um after that I did speak to one of the leaders of the world there in Okinara and he said this is a rainbow coalition.
I'm in PDP but we have come out to support APC. When it's our own time, they too will come out to support us.
That was exactly what happened.
Yesterday during the PDP governorship uh uh uh primary election uh when I was speaking with Mr. Sam Sunonny Au who is now the candidate of the PDP River State you know as he was there talking to us Buki behind him the drummers were drumming and singing okay now oh no basically talking about okay hinda who is from the APC right there where the PDP is doing their own um primary election and I was asking him I said sir they are singing for another candidate who is supposed to be your rival in this election he said don't don't worry we are a rainbow coalition when the time comes we'll meet and decide who is going to go and who's going to step down for each other and it just is a summary of what is actually playing out here in River State.
>> I I was wondering I deliberately asked that question uh because of the positioning of the rainbow coalition and of course let's not forget that uh Mr. Okay. Chinda used to be the minority leader, you know, so a lot of questions around the legality of the process. I wonder if it's a redefinition of, you know, our political culture uh this time around in River State. But Charles, we'll bring you back again, you know, to view the outcome of this process.
Charles Operum is our correspondent in River State. Uh thank you very much, Charles. And also, um Pas Angu, our correspondent in Ben state. Thank you for coming on the program.
Thank you very much.
>> Now there's more political talk. Let's head to our Abuja studio now where uh ADC chieftain and now presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Mr. Dumi Kachiku joins us now on the program. Mr. Kachiku, thank you so much for coming through.
>> Thanks for having me. And so news has come through in the last few hours that you have emerged the presidential candidate of uh the African Democratic Congress and of course the report is that it's the group loyal to you because we've checked the INC website and uh the David Mark le group still stands recognized as the official members of the party that INC is dealing with. So help us situate your candidacy within the context of that and the other litigation issues you know around the African Democratic Congress.
>> A good question. I think mistake a lot of uh uh the media journalists are making when they say when they check the INC website and that um what they see there is the David Mlet group. Um I think what you should do is actually look deeper. Um if you go to the INC website and check all the states and all the different state chap chapters and see who the chairman are in those state chapters, those are the chairmen who are with me and those are the chairman who conducted a convention. Uh we held our congresses last week and um those people we emerged um during our congresses for the um uh new state chairman in has uploaded them as the valid state chairman of the party because the court order um that came about 2 3 weeks ago was very very clear that um the party um is rightly vested in the state chairman.
The court order also made clear that only the state chairman could conduct congresses and a convention which is what we did yesterday. INC in um having David Mark and Cole on their portal is just because of the other case that is going on um concerning the uh uh nephew Bala faction and David Mark faction and because had made the mistake Abin is to say because of the court order they removed them. So when there was a court order that says um um you don't have to um do that they then put them there. But there's a court order that makes clear that uh the state chairman should conduct congresses which is what they've done. They should conduct a convention which is what they've done in the event that after the convention that we've conducted because they heeded to our congresses and they uploaded those we emerged. So after this convention if INC does not then upload those who will emerge on their portal then um we will go to court and get the next chairman charged for contempt of court. It's very simple.
>> All right Mr. Ku so so that will lead the people right. What did the court expressly say the chairman should conduct congresses or the court recognize uh their leadership until the expiration of their tenure given what was an agreement. as far as this is concerned so that we lead the people right because I know that you had filed a suit that was dismissed that was initial one and then those gentlemen I think about seven of them out of 36 correct me if I'm wrong and approached the courts that the attorney had not expired and they made a case before the court the court agreed with them and then they were reinstated but the argument is to the fact that when was the attorney supposed to elapse and if I understand that judgment for what I read is to the fact that until a valley um until a valid uh convention is organized in that of that nature. So what exactly did the court say? So we don't say what the court did not say.
The court clearly stated that only the state chairman could conduct congresses and that only the state chairman will also conduct a convention. That's the order of the court. It's very very clear. Um and I'm going to forward you guys that order. Um forward it to us because there's no way in law that I know that state chairman will conduct primaries. It's a neck decision. Mr. >> It's a neck decision.
>> As you speak, I have just I have just sent I just sent the court order to you guys as we speak so that >> I'm sure my producer will get it to us.
>> We uh we are all we are all very clear. The order of the court is very clear. It's it's about the constitution of our party and that is what the court relied on to make that order. Um in our party's constitution, it's the state chapters that have the right to conduct those congresses and not um and not um the national >> which provision which provision of your party constitution my apologies so that we can reference all of this please.
>> Which provision? Because this is strange to me. Uh so I want to learn from you from your party.
Which provision of your party constitution >> says that it is national >> exactly >> state chairman not neck that we're used to that we put together or in NWC. So give me the provision so that I can check it and confirm from with with the people here.
>> Okay. I I think I should throw this back at you and please give me the provision in my party's constitution that says that is the um is the David Mark lead neck that should conduct congresses.
>> That is not my question. And I said, >> I ask you, >> no, that that's Mr. Just hold on. That that that's not my question. I'm saying that we're used to NWC neck agreeing to having a convention. So if this is in your party's constitution, refer me to the provision in your party constitution so that I can read it out to the people.
That's what I said. I'm not contending with you.
>> Okay. Hey. No, because um I was just following your report before I came on and you were speaking about uh congresses and primaries that were being held across the states and you could see that it was the state chapters that were conducting those primaries and congresses and not the national. And so um any party person understands that um that there's a national and there's a state chapter. Those state chapters are not figureheads.
They're recognized by the constitution and they have roles to play. That is why every state chapter has um an organizing secretary and the job of the organizing secretary is to conduct.
>> Mr. Kuku, my apologies. I'm talking about national convention. I'm very intentional with my question. Cite me to the provision in your constitution that says it is state chairman that will organize a national convention. That's my question.
>> Okay. I don't know the specific um um uh article in our constitution. I can't I can't recall it off head. Um but if you you ask about the court judgment afforded to you but I also want to read um um uh read that court judgment for you. Okay. Um um one of declarations is a declaration that the purported appointment of the Congress committee members of the body described as a ketica international working committee or any variant thereof not being the state executive committee constituted in accordance with the first defendants constitution is unconstitutional null and void. An order nullifying the appointment of the Congress committee members for the first defendant by the body described as the Ketica International Keta working committee. An order restraining the seven defendant ink from recognizing or attending the congress or any event organized by the body described as keta international keta working committee purportedly appointed for the first defendant. An order restrain the seven defendant, his officers, agents, privies, assigned, successors, entitled, representatives and all persons claiming true under it from acknowledging, accepting, recognizing, giving effect to or in any manner whatsoever validating the word, local government and what Congress of the defendant except that organized and conduct conducted by the first to. Are you reading? Other words, it means that in other words, this means that everything you see going on in state chapters like what you refer to as the as the UBA primaries in River State or the different states and every single thing is null and void in face of in the face of the law. You understand?
>> Are you reading to us the >> Are you reading to us the outcome of the court verdict affirming your state chairman as a chairman of the ADC?
That's what you're reading to us.
>> Not only a Yes. Yes. Yes, which is what I've sent to you guys. I'm also reading the declaration, the orders made by the judge concerning congresses, concerning convention. That's what I'm reading to you guys so that we are all clear about what is playing out in the ADC. So that you all understand why Ink had no choice but to upload our congress that have been conducted so far. That's why I said that if you want look beyond >> Okay. But but but Mr. Are you also aware of the I believe court of appeal judgments setting aside uh the court judgment that uh led to the status quo antibbellum crisis which in turn led in to now recognize the David Mark group uh temporarily pending when the case is determined at the Supreme Court level. I'm asking this to ask why um you are not waiting for the determination of that before nullifying uh the yes before setting aside the uh David Markle le group before nullifying their leadership because that's besides adopting you as a presidential candidate yesterday that's what your group also did.
>> I I think I think you're missing the point. There are two different court cases here. One court case is the court case of Nafu Bala saying that um that Rafu um couldn't have handed over the party to David Mlet group and he challenged that and he's in court with David Mlet group on that issue. Our court case is a court case that simply sits we have two court cases. One court case is a case that says um Rafu was never chairman of the party at the time.
He tried to hand over the party to these people. The second court case is a case that challenge the powers of these people to conduct a convention and conduct congresses on behalf of the party and that is the judgment I've read to you from um on that court case where the judge held that only the state chairman of the party who are validly recognized could conduct congresses and convention on behalf of the party. As we speak today that judgment has not been overturned. They tried to set it aside.
The court of our appeal that that case is holding sometime this week to hear the um to hear the matter. The court did not um agree to um uh uh to set aside the judgment. They said they're going to uh hear the merits of the matter and that's ongoing. So as we speak in had no choice but to recognize the congresses that we have held and uphold our state chairman. So if you check the INC portal across the states you'll see that all the state chairman you saw yesterday are the ones who are on the INC portal and after our convention now like I said we then convey what um emerged from our convention to INC and INC if in does not then recognize it also then INC will be in contempt of court and we hold them as such.
So I I'm trying to look through this um court ruling very quickly. Did it did court did this court ruling in any way nullify the David Mark le leadership of the ADC?
Did it order did it order that they stop parading themselves as national executives of the party?
>> Okay. Now let me let me make this clear to you. David Mled leadership is a body just in the eyes of the media as far as the ADC is concerned as a party. We don't know the David Mled leadership. You understand? So um I think it's important you guys inform the public accordingly. People came and just said that they are the ADC and they taking over the ADC. It's just like me coming today and saying I own channel television and even though Arise AIT and all the other media stations report that I own channel television doesn't mean that I own channel television. If I go to court and claim that I own channel television it and the court saying the court is hearing the matter educating on the matter and it goes all the way supreme court back and forth does it mean I own channel television because we are in court and the court has said maintain status quantum whatever it is.
Does he mean I own channel television?
Absolutely not. And you guys keep on misinforming the public when you guys don't understand the nuances of the law or what's going on.
>> Mr. Nu, >> just hold on. Just hold on. So there's nobody misinforming anybody. There's nobody. You >> question also. No, you're also mixing things up. Just hold on, Mr. Kachuk.
Hold on. So that we're clear.
They went to court. There was an incident between Nafu Gome and of course David Mark. And that issue has to do with leadership. what you're doing is even prejudice because that state case the substantive issue varied in the originating summon uh uh is still in court it's not been determined in fact it's been a John Senate D because of the gentleman wanted a change in in the judge there was injunctive relief >> you are saying something totally different I am trying to put because the way you're going you may mislead the public so let me put it correctly you're saying Just hold on. By what?
>> Just hold on. Just hold on, sir. You are the ones saying >> if you understand what I'm >> No, hold on, Mr. Under this counter.
>> If you can if you understand what I'm saying, you are saying that we are the ones recognizing. No, even in recognizes David M. That's that's what I wanted to put to you that Ink recognizes David M group by their own portal. That case, an interlocatory appeal based on injunctive order, non- injunctive. went all the way to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court referred the case back to the trial and say go and show cause why those injunctive relief should not be sought should not be granted. As a matter of fact, let this case be acceler be heard accel faster accelerated hearing. So to an extent Nafu Gome and David M are in court and the court will decide which is the leadership that does not invalidate what has played out in the court as far as those seven gentlemen who went to court saying these people cannot come and run congresses because we are supposed to want be the ones who run congresses for ourselves. That's what actually that judgment is about running congress until a valid congress is held and a valid national convention is held.
Those were the language of the court.
Um, can you read out the language of the court so it's clear so that our listeners know and they are not misinformed? The ninth order is very clear. Let me read the ninth order for you so we are clear on this. The ninth order says an order of perpetual injunction restraining the first to six defendants, their agents previous or assigns successors entitled representatives and all persons claiming t under them from organizing state congress or any congress or convoke national convention for the first defendant >> and indeed Mr. Kachiku that doesn't state that the first to six defendants have been told not to well the first now maybe being um the ADC group from parading themselves as officers of the party have been looking through uh the the the orders and there's nothing absolutely nothing that says so and that's why I'm asking you is there anything in this order is there anything in this order that says that the David Mark group should stop parading themselves as officials of the party because if it doesn't and what you are doing, your group is doing may be subjudice because the leadership issues have not been resolved.
>> Well, I I think like I don't think you and I are reading the same order. If an order clearly tells them to stop to stop parading themselves or not appoint people to run uh to conduct congresses on behalf of the state chairman, on behalf of the party, what does that order imply? Stop conducting congresses is different from stop parading yourselves as officers of the party right now.
>> Well, well, the issue there are two court cases ongoing. There's like we just said, there's a Nafu Balac uh case that is gone going and there's this case that is ongoing. The state chairman went and challenged Ink and these people concerning the affairs of the party and the judgment is very clear. is stopped them from arrogating themselves onto themselves powers to conduct the affairs of the party such as congresses or convention. And I also said which is what something I I've noticed I've said it three times now and you guys you guys kept quiet about it. I said you mentioned that the these gentlemen are the ones that you see on the INC portal.
But I also said to you but if you check throughout the INC portal and all the state chapters of the um of the party that these same state chairman are the people you'll find there. I also said to you that the congresses who have held last week that ink was they conducted the congress and they have uploaded the results of our state of the congresses.
You've not said anything does. So when you are seeing the signs showing clearly that Ink recognizes the court order and is obeying the court order, you ignore that and you keep on pushing to me.
>> But Mr. Kachiku, if was rec recognizing the order 100%. It would recognize Abdul Kadir Bashir as who's your new national chairman of your group as the national chairman of the group.
>> But the convention just happened last the convention just happened a few hours ago. And then why not why not wait for the proc why not wait for the processes to run through before the adoption of you as the presidential candidate and before the dissolution of the David Mark le group.
>> Okay, let me ask you let me ask you what might appear to be a stupid question.
And I said earlier if I came and parided myself as the owner of channel television and we are now in court do you shut down INC? Do you shut down channel television and don't come to work until the case the case runs through is cost in court.
There you go.
>> Oh, is that a question? Okay.
>> They're not the same. Mr. I I I exactly the same thing. Come on. Don't say they're not the same. I said people came into our party and said that they they own the party and they leadership of the party and they are being challenged in court and the court process is going is taking is taking his course and you are saying to me because the court process is taking I think the point >> Hang on hang on >> just hold on you you've been talking because of time because of time because of time you made your point just hold on >> can I can I make my can I land and make 10 seconds so I can throw in my next question so that we have the time to engage you more Sure. So I said I said so um the same thing has happened here.
People are claiming to be to the leaders of the party is being challenged in court and same time I'm saying if I claim to be honor of channels and is being challenged in court does it mean that channels will not operate anymore because of the court case? Of course not. So we know how the courts work and it does not stop um it does not stop life from going on. It's that simple.
>> So Mr. Mr. Chuk, I think the point you may be missing and let's make the point before I ask you my next question is the judgment that supported those gentlemen who went to court is a valid judgment.
The judgment that went all the way to the Supreme Court is also a valid judgment. And so let's be clear on that because what you're saying is like >> okay what does what does it what what does the what does Supreme Court judgment say so that you I I I I keep on saying this we don't want to misinform the public. The Supreme Court judgment says go to the lower court and dispatch that case in the lower court. The lower court has not made any order and so that case is is in the lower court. So when you are speaking, you make it appear that a case in lower court has been adjudicated and there's an order.
>> That's what I'm that's what I'm saying.
No, no, no. You're you're you're missing the point. I'm saying they have to go and show cause. The substantive issue has not even been heard. I'm saying that there is a case in court that has to do with leadership. There's also a judgment that you're relying on that is also from a court that is also valid. That is why we have all this conundrum within your party. So I wanted to put the record straight so that everybody understand what so what what is clear to all is that there's a case in court and that has not been heard but a case in court has been heard and there's a judgment and that is the only subsisting judgment and that is what all everyone has got to run on rely on right now and that is what I let's move on let's move on to let's I'm trying to be careful not to jump into issues that are before the report but we needed to pause it so that every now everybody who has watched has seen that there conundrum of you know cases judgment cases to be heard and all of that so that it's clear where everybody stands but talk to us about what why the speed with on with which the your convention that your group organiz is saying that you're now the sole candidate of the party >> the question is why the speed Yes.
>> Alan, what's the speed there? Uh the the immaculate faction of the party, are they not organizing a convention today?
Are they not having their primaries today? What's the difference? 24 hours.
What's what what do you mean by speed? I don't I don't get your question.
>> So yours yours was a primaries that was organized. Is that what I'm saying? Is that what you're saying? I just want to be clear on what?
>> Yes. for for the uh um for the presidential uh primaries. Presidential primaries and convention go hand in hand and that is what happened yesterday.
>> Okay. You held you had a convention yesterday and a presidential primaries yesterday. Is that what you're saying?
>> That's correct. Yes.
>> Okay. What mode did you Okay. You use the consensus method. Is that correct?
>> That's correct. Yes.
>> Okay. I just wanted to be clear on that.
So um you say it's your state chairman that are recognized and everyone is running with this judgment. Am I correct borrowing your words?
>> That's correct. Yes.
>> But what about the other seven state chairman that abstained and said they were not part of the congress?
>> The um the seven state chairman who abstained from the congress. What exactly what that means is that where congresses were held and they did not um hold congresses in their states it means that their tenure is now over and it means that their seats are vacant.
>> So uh then that means that I I'm not quite sure whether their seats are vacant, whether their tenure has expired. I'll have to check that. But that means that not everyone is then running with your own convention, your new convention and your adoption as uh the presidential candidate of the party or the adoption of Abdul Kadir Bashir as national chairman of the party. It means that that division uh still subsists.
>> Um as you have always reported, there's a division within our party. But uh when when you have um when you said you have seven people out of 37 um absent that means we have a clear majority who are in support of of our actions and what's going on in the party.
>> Okay. Uh it's an ongoing conversation and we will leave well I think the David M group they are going to be holding uh their convention today. Uh no their primary is not convention. So, we'll see how that plays out. And I think by by the previous timetable, May the 30th, we're going to see uh who Ink is going to recognize and we can have a clearcut conversation. But now, everybody is trying to jostle. But we wish your party the very best and uh uh as much as possible, we hope that we can have a formidable opposition uh to the ruling party from all corners as much as possible because democracy survives and thrives on opposition. But Mr. critical.
We're going to definitely absolutely have you on the show when the everything has settled. Uh we'll be able to know what we're dealing with and then no alternative conversations we'll have.
Thank you, sir.
>> Thank you very much.
>> All right, Mr. Katu has just been produced as the sole candidate of the ADC from his only group loyal to him.
Now, it's a difficult thing to introduce these days. You have to always pause it, pause it, pause it, pause it, pause it.
But is the nature of politics uh is a lot of you know interest wrangling but eventually everything will be clear as to who can do what as far as the parties are.
>> Well, perhaps maybe we should just uh automatically give a right of reply to the other group.
>> No, they respond to some of the you know issues he has raised based on this court ruling that they have been able to is a judgment actually. So I think the the David M group will have a primaries today. Uh their group has produced him as so presidential candidate. We don't know what's going on with Nafu Balag group. So it's just it's just an interesting interesting politics.
>> Well, uh we're totally out of time. We will not be able to take some of your talking points uh from the other stories, but uh we promise to do a recap of that tomorrow. Thank you so much for starting your week with us. We'll be back again tomorrow. Sunrise is up next.
I am Bukola Kulka >> and I'm Jeffrey. Have a great week ahead.
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