Primaries: APC chieftains flock to Buhari for intervention 

Other politicians sighted at the presidential villa, Abuja on Friday were former Zamfara state governor, Ahmed Yerima and Senator Kabiru Mafara, also from the state which had been unable to conduct a successful primary election due to disagreement among the stakeholders.

Their presence in the villa followed the visit of nine APC governors a day earlier over the same issue.

El-Rufai confirmed to State House correspondents after his meeting with the president that he was there to discuss, with the president, the contentious Kaduna state list of National Assembly contestants.

He expressed anger that many of the aspirants screened in his state had been excluded from the list, warning that the situation can cause the party to lose its cases at the tribunal.

He said: “Many contestants that have been screened by the committee were removed from the list unilaterally by some elements in the party.

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“They are rumours that some people have been granted automatic tickets but by yesterday when the representatives of the Progressive Governors Forum met with Mr President and National chairman, we thought that this rumour of automatic ticket which has no place in our constitution and any enlighten democracy have been resolved.

“But up to the time I left Kaduna this morning and came to see the president, we did not receive the list of those that will contest the legislative elections.

“On my way, I received a list of our state party structure but it seems to me there are still exclusions. As you know exclusion is one of the many reasons elections are lost at the tribunal level. We are being careful.

“In Kaduna state we do not practice imposition, force people to step down for anyone. We believe in elections and we like people to subject themselves to full democratic process.

“In some states, you have one list from the governor. We don’t have any list. We gave everyone a level playing ground as subject to meeting the requirements of the party. Everyone is allowed to contest and may the best man win.”

The Kaduna governor said that Buhari restated his commitment to democracy, saying that he would never encourage imposition of candidates.

He added: “The president restated his position that he is a Democrat, product of elections and he has never encouraged non-election. He has never supported imposition and he has never asked anyone to grant anybody automatic tickets.

“The position was restated yesterday to the progressive governors’ forum and he told me this and said he will take necessary steps to communicate this very clearly to the party leadership.”

Senator Mafara also regretted what he said was the interference of Governor Abdulaziz Yari in the Zamfara state APC primaries which were later cancelled.

He expressed fears that the state branch of APC may not be able to meet Sunday deadline to submit its list of candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Meanwhile, former Delta state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has met with the president to,  according to him, discuss Niger Delta issues.

He noted that peace has been restored to the region as he said the APC government had continued to implement numerous development projects.

Uduaghan only recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.

Also, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ayim Ayim, met with President Buhari behind closed doors.

It was unclear what the meeting was about as he did not speak with the media during the visit.