2019: Borno APC chieftain rejects indirect primaries, threatens to mobilise protest votes

A veteran journalist and retired Permanent Secretary in the Borno State Civil Service, Musa Abba Aji who is a card-carrying member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has kicked against the purported endorsement of indirect primaries by critical stakeholders in the state, insisting that it is only direct primaries that can guarantee voters rights in a democratic system.
This was even as the National Working Committee of the party in Abuja said yesterday that any indirect primaries which led to a protest from any stakeholder or aspirant will lead to the cancellation of the exercise and a resort to direct primaries in the affected state.

Aji regretted that the so-called critical stakeholders cited insecurity, lack of funds and inability to have a complete online register of APC members in the state as reasons for the adoption of the indirect primaries, stressing that all these reasons were not only baseless, but an act of total disenfranchisement of electorates in choosing their leaders in the state.

His words: “As a bonafide and card carrying member of the APC, I am strongly opposed to the indirect primaries in Borno state. This indirect option is not only an act of cowardice, but a step to disenfranchised all APC voters in the state.

“If such method (indirect primaries) is not suspended for Direct Primaries, we will continue mobilizing electorates for a protest votes come 2019.

“We call on the National Working Committee, NWC, and leaders of APC in Borno State to rise to the occasion, by adopting direct primaries, which is the best democratic practice for all elective positions on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.

“This will further enhance participation and promote inclusion within the rank and file of the APC,” Aji stated.