APC defends substitution of candidates after primaries, denies law violations

The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Felix Morka, on Tuesday defended the party’s substitution of some candidates after its primaries, saying no aspirant who failed to participate in the primary process was declared a winner.

Morka said this while addressing allegations that the APC arbitrarily replaced candidates or handed tickets to individuals who did not participate in the primaries.

Speaking during an interview on ARISE NEWS, the APC scribe said the party received more than 720 petitions from aggrieved aspirants after the primaries.

He added that the substitutions followed recommendations from appeal committees and a review by the National Working Committee.

“We received over 720 petitions from those who contested in that election. These petitions were reviewed by the appeal committees. Recommendations were made to the National Working Committee. But the National Working Committee of our party, in its wisdom, also took responsibility to review the reports of the appeal committees and to re-evaluate those cases.

“And at the end of them, we made those changes that you are discussing. So these are legitimate outcomes of our primaries,” he said.

Responding to claims that the party violated the Electoral Act by substituting candidates after the primaries, Morka argued that the primary election process extends beyond voting to include dispute resolution.

“Primary election is a process. It’s not an event. The appeal process is an integral part of the primary election process. It’s not a separate process, and it’s not a process invented by the party to cause mischief,” he said.

He also denied allegations that the APC awarded tickets to individuals who neither purchased nomination forms nor participated in the primaries.

“I’m not aware of any such case that you are alluding to about those who didn’t participate, who never bought forms, who were not screened, who didn’t participate in primaries, all of a sudden handed tickets.

“Look, I’m not aware. If you have any such example, please mention it, and I will go back and do my own investigation,” Morka said.

The APC spokesman acknowledged that some aspirants were dissatisfied with the outcome of the primaries but said the party carefully reviewed every petition before reaching its decisions.

“When they don’t win, naturally some people definitely have a reason to be dissatisfied. And this is why we took our time to go through these appeal processes to make sure that there was no case we didn’t give the time of day to thoroughly review,” he said.

According to him, the party had begun engaging aggrieved aspirants to reassure them that the process was transparent and not driven by personal interests.

“What we say to them is that everyone cannot be flag bearer. Our engagements are already on to reach individuals like this, to reassure them that this is not personal. Nothing has been done that is arbitrary. Nobody has just been favoured with tickets,” he added.

Morka also dismissed suggestions that the review process was manipulated to favour certain political interests, saying the party’s internal mechanisms were designed to address irregularities that might arise during primaries.

“Primaries are not infallible. Primaries are not immune to irregularities. The system, the law, everything already expects that sometimes things don’t go right, so there must be a mechanism to review that when others complain,” he said.

On claims that the APC was anxious about the next general election despite controlling most state governments, Morka said the party remained confident.

“All the elections conducted in this country since the 2023 general elections, we have won them, including the most recent elections we won massively, bigly, to use the words of Donald Trump,” he said.

He added, “We are working hard to win the next election, like we’ve won in all the by-elections. The idea that we’re afraid, that is utterly ridiculous. We are working hard to win the next election.”