*** Calls for direct primary mode
By Amuda Dan Sulaiman Fab
A Lokoja 1 State Constituency House of Assembly aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Bala Usman, has warned against the imposition of candidate on the members ahead of the party’s primary election.
He said members would resist any plan to impose candidates on the party, adding that it would be disastrous to allow imposition of an unpopular candidate to fly the party’s ticket.
Speaking to newsmen during his declaration to run for Lokoja 1 State Constituency election on the platform of the APC, at his Adankolo residence on Thursday, Usman said members were ready to liberate themselves from the clutches of the oligarchy, who believed in the politics of imposition, which they capitalised on to turn the party into a personal estate.
Usman urged the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led national leadership of the APC to adopt direct primary mode to select all its candidates for the 2023 election in Kogi State.
He said the use of direct primary would produce a popular candidate to win the poll, warning that it would be disastrous for the ruling party to allow unpopular persons to be imposed on them during the party’s primary elections as, according to him would be disqualified by INEC such candidates.
He stressed that the best way to democratise the APC primary and make the outcome acceptable in Kogi State was by adopting direct primary so that the party could get popular candidates to face the oppositions.
“APC must win all the 2023 elections in Kogi State. They must pick someone that is popular. You can see for yourselves that people are with us.
“The national leaders of our great party must return this party to the people. Let the national leaders adopt direct primary to elect the candidates for Kogi. If truly we want to get a popular candidate, let us return power to the people. With popular participation, people themselves will decide the candidate in the interest of justice, equity and fair-play. All the aspirants must go for direct primary.
“I still believe that if the process is credible and a popular candidates are elected, we will all support them. But if you go to your closet to bring out a candidate, this will not work. Primaries should be democratic.
“What is difficult in conducting direct primary if truly you are open and popular? The party must go on the side of the people,” Usman said.
Explaining the reason for his house of assembly ambition, Usman, hinged his reasons on his vision to give quality representation to his Lokoja 1 State Constituency and fight the hydra-headed problem of poverty and unemployment to the barest minimum.
Describing Usman as the best man that can secure victory for APC, one of his friends, Ojo Solomon, while speaking to this reporter at the event, appealed to members and delegates to resist any attempt by some moneybags to buy their conscience during the primary.
