Ahead of the 2023 presidential elections, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said there will be no automatic ticket to anyone who defects to the party.
APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) Secretary, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, in a statement released on Friday, September 17, said defection into the party by any person does not confer the status of an automatic candidate of the party on such individual.
Akpanudoedehe, who was reacting to a misrepresentation of his views on the waiver granted new entrants and defectors by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) at its December 8, 2020 meeting in a television programme, said all party members, irrespective of the status of the person, must go through the party’s nomination process as outlined in its constitution. He maintained that the waiver by NEC was not restricted to anyone.
According to the Secretary, “the waiver is not specific to anyone as being misconstrued and misrepresented in some sections. Coming into the party gives no one special status of being an automatic party candidate in any election. All aspirants must undergo the nomination processes outlined by the APC constitution,” he said.
Akpanudoedehe recalled that the party’s NEC resolved and granted waivers to persons who have recently joined the party and those desirous of joining the party in the nearest future to contest for positions in the APC and as party flag bearers in general elections.
He explained that by the NEC resolution, “new members will enjoy all the benefits and privileges accruable by the APC” but not the status of automatic candidate of the party.
“For the records, in my recent television interview reaction to the rumoured plans by former President Goodluck Jonathan to join the APC, my statement was that NEC resolution was a blanket waiver to ALL new APC entrants, including the interviewee.
The waiver is not specific to anyone as being misconstrued and misrepresented in some sections.
Coming into the party gives no one special status of being an automatic party candidate in any election. All aspirants must undergo the nomination processes outlined by the APC constitution” he added