According to Nentawe Yilwatda, the chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the party is capable of resolving its disagreements.
Yilwatda’s remarks coincide with the APC’s current primary-related scandals.
Speaking to reporters following his meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos on Wednesday, he said that the APC’s popularity throughout Nigeria made the party’s primaries the most contested in the nation’s history.
The APC Chairman claimed that the primaries were generally peaceful and free of rancour while thanking President Tinubu and members nationwide for their support.
“I also want to express my gratitude to our supporters for their diligent attitude to these procedures. It’s extremely well-organized, almost rancour-free, and has few complaints. Election procedures are frequently criticized, but they are almost flawless, he remarked.
“Our guidelines on consensus are clear,” he stated in response to the disputes and controversies surrounding the consensus arrangements in several jurisdictions. We also have clear rules on direct primaries. Direct primaries are used when consensus is ineffective. People in every state are acting in such manner.
Yilwatda continued by saying that the party has internal procedures to deal with post-primary disputes.
After this primary election, there will undoubtedly be some disgruntled party members. Over time, our internal dispute resolution process has been successful.
The Presidential Conflict Resolution Committee is one of our tools. The Party Conflict Resolution Committee is what we have. He stated, “We manage people as much as we can, and the party itself has been working to reduce crisis.”
“The President was very impressed with the tactics we’ve used and the logistics we deployed across the country,” he added. The fact that there are now fewer cases nationwide has also really impressed him. He is pleased with our efforts.
The chairman described the exercise as a logistical success and praised members for their discipline, which resulted in “limited conflicts” during the process. He also noted that the nationwide deployment of direct primaries this cycle was a significant step and indicated improvements in the party’s organizational capacity.
