• Says it’ll consider capacity, ability to deliver above zoning in picking candidate
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Ahead of the scheduled April 5 party primary for the November Anambra State governorship election, the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has disclosed that capacity and ability to deliver will be considered above zoning in deciding who flies the party’s ticket as candidate for the poll.
The party’s leadership, however, noted that if zoning is to be considered, the aspirants from the North and Central Senatorial zones would be considered ahead of those from the South since it is the zone where the incumbent governor, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, hails from.
National Secretary of the party, Ajibola Basiru, who made the clarification, hinted that it would be difficult for a party not in power to restrict itself to a regimented zoning arrangement.
The party’s chief scribe in a chat said that three criteria, comprising zone, character and content of the aspirants would be the major factors for considerations.
Hear him: “When you talk about zoning, of course, the search our party has done, we are looking at Central and North Senatorial zones, and because of the fact that the incumbent is from the South zone, we may not look at that area.
“However, ultimately, our choice of candidacy will be based on capacity and ability to deliver. So, we are not closing our eyes totally to any of the zones, in terms of selection of our candidate.
“We are going to look at competence, ability and, of course, the popular appeal of anybody that aspires to become our candidate.
“So, when you are not in power, you cannot put yourself in the pigeonhole of a particular zone. You have to look at the zone, the character and content of the candidate that will be able to deliver in that regard,” he noted.
Expressing confidence in winning the poll, he said: “As far as we are concerned, we are focused on the delivery of the mandate of our party as a leadership recruitment platform.
We are focused on delivering the incoming election. INEC will soon release notice of election for Anambra State and our party is poised to take over leadership in Anambra State as the party that has more states in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
“We are also poised to work assiduously to take over the mantle of leadership in other states like Ekiti and Osun states.”
Asked where he is drawing his confidence that APC will win the Anambra governorship poll, he said: “We are working to ensure that we have a credible candidate that has the necessary appeal to be able to win the election, just like we did in Edo and Ondo governorship elections.
“And, of course, when you also consider the lackluster performance of the present governor of Anambra State, you know that it is fertile ground for our party to secure victory.
“And the key stakeholders, both in terms of traditional and religious institutions are yearning for a leadership based on our party, the APC, will provide. So, I am very confident that with adequate mobilisation, we are going to get victory in Anambra State.” XXX
