Ahead of the governorship election in Ondo State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has ruled out an automatic ticket for the governor of the state, Hon. Lucky Ayedatiwa.
This hint was dropped by the national spokesperson of the APC, Felix Morka, during an interview, who said the ruling party is democratic and everyone who desires a nomination must earn it.
According to him, a lack of internal democracy is a threat to any country’s democracy and can lead to chaos and often violence due to the resultant discontent. He said the party had agreed that interested aspirants who desired to run should do so.
Describing internal democracy as the beauty of democracy, but noted that a good number of Nigerian political parties had failed to practice internal democracy
Asked if APC would give Aiyedatiwa the right of first refusal ahead of the party’s primary for the November poll, Morka said, “We have not had that discussion, but we are a democratic party; we are a progress party; we don’t give anything to people; people have to justify and earn it.
“And it is not to us; they have to justify their suitability, their qualification, or criteria; it is to the people of the state who are our members, who would participate in the direct or indirect primary.
“Whatever preference anyone may have, it is all subject to the democratic decision of the party members who will participate in our primaries.
“We don’t give free gifts in APC; we contest and we compete, and we win whatever it is we can get in terms of representation,” he added.
He, however, said he cannot pre-empt whether the governorship ticket would be zoned in Ondo or not and said, “We are yet to engage in zoning. We will explain to the people if and when we do that.”
It will be recalled that Aiyedatiwa, the former deputy governor of the state, was sworn in as substantive governor of the state on December 27, 2023, following the painful death of the late governor of the state, Rotimi Akeredolu.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed the state governorship poll for November 16, 2024, while the party primary is slated between March and April this year.
. TheWitness
