2027: APC national chairman defends consensus deal

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has defended the consensus deal in some states chapters in the ongoing primaries of his party.

Speaking with State House correspondents in Lagos after his meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Professor Yilwatda Professor Nentawe maintained that no aspirant has been forced to submit himself to consensus deal as the Electoral Act stipulates that the buying in of all aspirants must be secured before anyone can be pronounced as consensus candidate.

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He said: “Our guidelines is clear. Where a consensus doesn’t work, you go for direct primary and that’s what people are doing across the states.

“There is no state where people said they wanted direct primary and they were handed consensus. We gave out consensus forms and you must sign the form before you step down. You must agree as aspirants before consensus takes place.”

Assessing the process amidst growing disaffection from aspirants who described it as “flawed and skewed to favour anointed choices”, the APC National Chairman said the anger from aspirants who lost out was expected.

He adjudged the primaries as competitive and in line with party guidelines.

He said: “My assessment is very simple. You can see how competitive our party has turned out to be. Just simple demand and supply: you have few positions and you have thousands of people who have come out to vie for these positions across the country, the most competitive ever in the history of Nigeria. I want to thank our members for the support they have given. It is usual for people to complain but it is near perfect”.

He said President Tinubu was impressed with the processes so far and has commended his National Working Committee.