Reviewing Party Primaries - AK Peters

Ajouté : 2026-05-29

[00:00:04]Now with the 2027 elections less than 2 years away, the critical question is whether parties will conduct credible primaries and choose their leaders and flag bearers accordingly. Analysts say where primaries are compromised, the damage begins inside party structures long before election day. Several governorship primaries in 2023 produce candidates with deeper pockets rather than grassroots support. The result was voter apathy. Legal compliance is not the same as credibility. Analysts agree that parties that conduct open primaries will have better prepared candidates and broader internal buy-in.

[00:00:47]Primaries are where citizens are empowered or disenfranchised before a single ballot is cast. The APC, NDC, ADC, and PDP carry the heaviest responsibility.

[00:00:58]State chapters are equally consequential. Nigeria's electorate is changing and the old playbook of money and manipulation may no no longer guarantee results.

[00:01:09]Um it appears the time to get this right is now.

[00:01:13]And for discussion on the imperative nature of good political party primaries as preparations for 2027 elections heat up, we have Deputy Director General APC Support Groups Council, Dr. AK Peters.

[00:01:29]He joins us now on Newsday. Good afternoon, Dr. Peters. Many thanks for joining us.

[00:01:36]Thank you, Cynthia. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

[00:01:40]>> Good afternoon. Now, APC has just concluded primaries and they have all obviously generated a lot of widespread grievances and some allegations of imposition and cries of manipulation.

[00:01:52]Now, based on the capacity of the hat that you wear for the APC, What's your take on these allegations? Can you defend the integrity of the primaries that have just concluded?

[00:02:07]Well, the primaries have come and gone.

[00:02:10]And the aftermath of the primaries are not what you say was unexpected.

[00:02:16]Uh ordinarily, when people have intentions of vying for major positions to serve their people, they have also the intentions to know that they would need to or may need to go through the eye of the needle.

[00:02:31]Elections in Nigeria, as in most parts of developed democracies, are more of a two-legged structure, the primary and the secondary election.

[00:02:40]The primary election is that first stage of election conducted within the political party, wherein candidates that will fly the flags as standard-bearers of political parties are expected to be elected by popular demand based on capacity and capability of these aspirants, knowing that they will face others, especially the vicissitudes that come with general elections.

[00:03:05]We have gone through the primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and we are happy to say that reasonably we are done with the primaries. And those who have emerged have emerged.

[00:03:16]It's been good so far, but not completely good in every part of Nigeria, as certain persons who actually won primaries were not declared winners. And going forward, this will not augur very well for for our democracy.

[00:03:36]Thank you, Dr. Dr. Peters, for that response. You know, another element of these primaries is the fact that we've seen a number of videos being circulated online of officials essentially just skipping votes, kind of counting haphazardly counting some have said geometrically.

[00:03:55]I'm wondering if you've seen those videos and if you can respond to this because it almost seems as if we're watching rigging happen happening in real-time. It's being recorded, but yet we haven't really heard any official responses from anyone in APC. So, what's your your reaction to these videos of people skipping votes on camera?

[00:04:18]I'm happy that people didn't say that primaries didn't take place.

[00:04:23]Primaries took place.

[00:04:24]And uh candidates have have emerged.

[00:04:28]The videos you talked about where you say there's counting in geometric progression and and all of that. Uh how much are videos are not verified or verifiable videos from very competent authorities, media organizations like Arise News.

[00:04:46]Uh and they are what you see from a social media people who handle all of these things in the social media and they think that that is correct. That is not really very correct. But that is not even the angle I'm going.

[00:05:01]I know that there are places where primaries took place and took place very well. I give you an instance.

[00:05:07]Uh like in Oyo >> Peters. Northern Senatorial District.

[00:05:11]>> Peters, let's let's not dwell on what went well. We need to discuss on the this touch on the things that you're trying to glaze over. In some cases you had you have recorded success primaries.

[00:05:22]You you had a good what's it called? A good a good process. But let's talk about the part >> A good turnout. Fine. Let's talk about the part that you're skipping over that was flawed. Even though you're disputing, you're saying that it's a social media and the likes. Can you what proof could you have to dispute that everything that came out that looks pretty authentic depending on who's doing the the interpretation. What can you use to discredit those videos?

[00:05:51]Facts.

[00:05:54]Yes, you you see, the Electoral Act directed or guided that there will be there will be in- indirect primaries. The indirect primaries we are used to.

[00:06:06]And this also at the opened up a a kind of a situation where a political godfathers or deep-pocket politicians can can can can will I say take over the system and the the the the the the process. But you see, it is for the political parties to put forward their candidates.

[00:06:29]And anybody who knows that this is the system you are into, ordinarily, you should ensure that you prepare well for the system. It is unfortunate that we were able to we saw some of those videos. But like I said, those videos cannot be videos we can rely on because they have not come from authorities like Arise Television. But we cannot dismiss the fact that this is Nigeria and things like that can happen. It's really unfortunate, but going forward, it is a learn a learning curve. We will know that there will be better times in future. Now that we know that this kind of things can happen. A learning curve at what cost? We always hear this during primary season and election. Oh, we will do better.

[00:07:09]We've learned at what cost?

[00:07:12]What happens in between? At the cost of the political parties. At the cost of the political parties. Wherein you put forward a candidate that is not popular and the candidate will contest in the general election with very popular candidates from other political parties.

[00:07:27]You will be shooting yourself on the foot because you you you you relied on your godson coming to take the office and your godson may not be able to withstand the heat in the general election against a more popular candidate. So it first comes the cost will be on the political parties. And most importantly, it may be on the not just the electorate, the constituencies, as as well as the states as the case may be that these people are coming to superintend over. So, it is a loss-loss situation both for the political party and probably also for the general Nigeria.

[00:08:07]Dr. AK Peters, I'm I'm afraid we've run out of time, but thank you very much for for joining us on Newsday to talk about 2027 and the primaries taking place.