Again, APC shifts Presidential primary to new dates

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has yet again postponed its presidential primary election earlier scheduled to hold between May 29- 30, 2022.

The much anticipated primaries will now hold on the 6th, 7th, and 8th of June, 2023.

Announcing the postponement, the National Secretary of the party, Felix Morka, said in a statement on Saturday, May 28, 2022, that, “Following the Independent National Electoral Commission’s extension of deadline for the submission of list of candidates by political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) hereby postpones its special convention for presidential primary from Sunday, 29th – Monday, 30th of May, 2022 to Monday, 6th – Wednesday, 8th of June, 2022.”

Pulse had earlier reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had extended the deadline for the conduct of primaries by six days following request by leadership of the 18 registered political parties.

The party leadership under the aegis of Inter Party Advisory Commission (IPAC) had asked the electoral commission to extend the deadline by one week to allow the political parties to conclude their primaries, including the presidential conventions.

IPAC chairman, Engr Yabagi Yusuf Sani, had told INEC that, “I want to thank you for giving us the very official time to meet with you once again on the issue of how the parties can collaborate with you to ensure that we have a crisis-free election as we conduct our primaries.”

Announcing INEC’s decision, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said “The Commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties, since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates.”

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has decided to forge ahead with its presidential primaries as planned.