The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has expressed confidence in the party’s ability to address and resolve internal disagreements arising from the ongoing primary elections.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

Yilwatda made the remarks amid controversies trailing the APC primaries in several states across the country.

Speaking with journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos on Wednesday, the APC chairman described the current primaries as the most competitive in Nigeria’s political history, attributing the development to the party’s growing popularity nationwide.

He commended President Tinubu and party members for their support and maintained that the primaries had been largely peaceful, organised and free from major rancour.

“I also want to thank our supporters for the disciplined approach they’ve given these processes. It’s near rancour-free, very organised, with little complaints. It’s usual for people to complain in election processes, but it’s near perfect,” he said.

Addressing disputes surrounding consensus arrangements in some states, Yilwatda explained that the party’s guidelines clearly spell out the process to follow whenever consensus fails.

“Our guidelines on consensus are clear. Our guidelines on direct primaries are also clear. Where consensus doesn’t work, you go for direct primaries. That’s what people are doing across the states,” he stated.

The APC chairman acknowledged that some members might feel dissatisfied after the primaries but insisted the party has established structures to resolve post-primary disputes.

“Definitely, we’re going to have some aggrieved party members after this primary election. We have an internal conflict resolution mechanism that has prevailed over a period.

“We have the Presidential Conflict Resolution Committee. We have the Party Conflict Resolution Committee. The party itself has been working to reduce crisis, we manage people as much as we can,” he added.

Yilwatda further disclosed that President Tinubu expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the primaries and the strategies deployed by the party across the country.

“The President was very impressed with the logistics we deployed across the country, the tactics we’ve used. He has also been very impressed with the reduced number of incidents that we have across the country. He’s happy with what we’re doing,” he said.

According to him, the nationwide implementation of direct primaries marks a major milestone in the party’s organisational growth, adding that the exercise demonstrated improved coordination and discipline among members, which helped minimise conflicts during the process.