The All Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru, has revealed that the National Working Committee (NWC) rejected the then National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu's choice of Ahmad Lawan as the party's consensus candidate for the presidential primary.
According to punch news, Duru stated that the NWC insisted on a transparent primary where delegates could decide the flag bearer of the party. He said, "At a meeting, the then National Chairman said a decision has been made to have the candidate of the party. A few of us, myself in particular, made a presentation at the NWC that this should not be the case... We could not have invited people to stand in for election and spend about N100m in that exercise and not give them a level playing field to be able to do that."
Duru's revelation sheds light on the behind-the-scenes drama that played out before the APC presidential primary in June 2022. Adamu's announcement of Lawan as the consensus candidate was met with resistance from northern governors who preferred Bola Tinubu. The party eventually held a primary election where Tinubu emerged as the winner. Duru's account highlights the importance of transparency and fairness in the political process, even within a political party.