Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has praised the conduct of the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives direct primaries in Gombe State as peaceful and transparent, even as some party members rejected the exercise.
The governor spoke to journalists shortly after participating in the exercise at his Jekadafari Ward in Gombe Local Government Area.
“We are one big family, and there is no victor, no vanquished. I urge everyone to cooperate and unite for the success of our great party in the forthcoming general elections.”
He applauded the election committee, security agencies and party stakeholders for ensuring what he called a credible and transparent process across the state.
The APC National Headquarters representative and Chairman of the National Primary Election Committee for Gombe State, Alhaji Musa Kafur, also expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise.
The presiding officer at the Jekadafari Ward centre, Yahaya Ibrahim Makeri, declared Saddam Bello winner for the Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye Federal Constituency ticket, defeating Zakariyya Jidda.
LEADERSHIP learns that the declared winner of the exercise at the governor’s ward is the consensus candidate the ruling APC earlier announced.
However, despite the official endorsement of the process, discontent emerged from some party members across several voting centres, with critics alleging that the exercise failed to reflect genuine democratic principles.
An APC member from Jekadafari Ward, Adamu Sa’adu, accused party officials of manipulating the outcome.
“They have only dictated the numbers they wanted and there was no transparent voting. If this is what happened across the centres, then our country still has a lot to do.”
Recall, the APC in Gombe State had earlier adopted a consensus arrangement endorsing candidates for all the elective seats, but was protested by other aspirants compelling the ruling party to switch for the direct primaries.
