As the 2015 elections in Nigeria approaches with speed, the various political parties in the country are bracing up for a sizeable number of political seats as well as winning more members.
This formed the basis of the adjustment, on Friday, of the timetable for primaries earlier released by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In the earlier announced timetable, the primaries for the candidates for the various Houses of Assembly was to hold on Saturday, 15th November, 2014.
But the new timetable released by the party shows that the primaries for the Houses of Assembly would now hold on 1st December, 2014, throughout the country, while the governorship primaries would hold on Thursday, 4th December, 2014, the one for the National Assembly would hold on Monday, 8th December and Tuesday, 9th December, 2014 throughout the federation.
Also the national convention to pick the APC’s presidential candidate now holds on Wednesday, 10th December, 2014.
Huhuonline.com learnt on Saturday that the decision to alter the earlier dates was targeted at providing the opportunity for members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties who are already aggrieved with their parties, to move over to the APC.
The calculation, according to investigation by our correspondents, is that some members of the PDP are still looking to defect. The shift in the date is to accommodate these new members into the fold of the opposition so as to swell its number ahead of the elections in 2015.
Already, there has been serious political bickering among the various aspirants in the PDP and this is more obvious with some governors’ who are making frantic efforts to unseat some members of the National Assembly as well as some aggrieved National Assembly members who are threatening to scuttle any plan for President Goodluck Jonathan to forge ahead for giving the governors in the PDP much powers to determine the fates of the legislators.
Furthermore, sources within the APC say the party fears that with the very high number of aspirants it currently has for the different positions, there could be issues that would get some of its aggrieved members moving to the PDP. It thus wants to prevent such defection after its primaries.
“The shift in the dates is for the primaries is advantageous in the sense that any likely aggrieved member of the APC would not think of defection but rather would consider staying back to resolve issues with the party.
“We also anticipate a mass defection from the PDP before and after its own primaries and we think that would assist our target,” a top member of the party told Huhuonline.com.
The PDP had recently also shifted its dates for primaries, but in the new dates, according to a statement issued by the PDP National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha, the party’s National Convention and Presidential Primary election, which was formerly slated for 6th December 2014 would now hold between 10th and 11th December, 2014 while the governorship primary election, earlier planned for 29th November, would now hold on 8th December.
Also primaries for the House of Representatives would now hold by 6th December, while the one for the Senate would hold on 7th December instead of 22nd November. Primaries for the House of Assembly by the PDP now hold on 29th November.
National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, had days ago appealed to aggrieved members of other parties in the country to move over to the APC as the party has enough space to accommodate them.
“In the increasing atmosphere of rot and uncertainty being foisted on our nation by the PDP, I address you as the National Chairman of the Party that is preparing itself to assume the awesome responsibility of governing our long suffering nation next year,” Oyegun said.
“Our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), was formed as a result of the yearnings of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians for an alternative platform to change the trajectory of our beloved country.
“Many well-meaning Nigerians have asked me who we are; beginning from today we are going to have a weekly conversation with the Nigerian People to say who we are.
“All Nigerians, irrespective of their current party affiliation, who are dissatisfied with their personal circumstances and the national drift,and desire a change are welcome to join this movement led by the APC.
“Our movement is programmed to create a new Nigeria of which we will all, without exception, be proud.
“With your overwhelming support and the free expression of your will, represented by your votes, the All Progressives’ Congress will by the grace of God next year commence the challenging but necessary process of charting a more secure and more prosperous future for us all.
“Armed with your mandate, we will raise the standards of governance and condition of living of all citizens to levels which all Nigerians deserve as of right. We will stop the rot and the descent to uncertainty and disaster which the sixteen years of PDP misrule has plunged us to as a nation.
“We will restore to Nigerians the hope and assurance that our nation can be made whole again, and that our leaders will submit themselves to the will and needs of our people,” Oyegun said.
Currently, the APC is looking towards getting more governors from the PDP to swell its number.
“We are aware that governors like Gabriel Suswam of Benue, Liyel Imoke of Cross River and Sullivan Chime of Enugu State are not finding it easy and could leave the PDP if their support for Jonathan is not made mutual. We are watching and studying the situation closely,” another member of the APC told Huhuonline.com in Lagos.
