The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Sunday met with some select stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress including former chairmen, the current National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu; the National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore; and some governors elected on the platform of the party.
The meeting came amid the inability of the governors to produce a consensus candidate barely 24 hours to the party’s convention.
A second meeting is expected to hold between all 22 governors of the APC and the President on Monday (today).
The PUNCH learnt that while the convention is expected to begin on Monday (today), the primary itself will not take place until Tuesday.
The programme of events sighted by The PUNCH showed that the election will hold from 6pm to 9pm on Tuesday after which the counting will be from 9pm to 10pm.
The candidate will be expected to deliver his acceptance speech from 10pm to 10.15pm.
It was learnt that the over 2, 300 delegates had started arriving Abuja and had been lodged in hotels in the nation’s capital.
The national chairman of the APC in Abuja on Sunday inaugurated the chairmen and assistants of the 18 sub-committees that would oversee the convention.
Almost all the APC governors were in attendance except Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai; Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State and Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
Akeredolu, who addressed the media on Friday about the readiness of the venue for the convention, was said to have suspended political activities following the news that several worshippers were massacred by gunmen while observing Sunday Mass in a Catholic Church in Owo
Speaking with the newly inaugurated chairmen and deputies, Adamu reassured them that the June 6 convention would go down in history as a memorable one.
Addressing journalists, Adamu disclosed that the presidential primary would be different because it is the first transition convention of the party.
“This convention this year is a bit different from the other convention. It is different because it is the first transition convention of our great party. The forthcoming convention will be expected within our constitution to produce the candidate of our great party to contest the presidential slot.
“I have observed with satisfaction the fact that quite a number of our governors here if not all of them arrived on or before 3pm. I want to appreciate you for that because travelling differs from persons to persons and from place to place,” he stated.
As part of preparations for the APC primary, the Federal Capital Territory Command of the police said on Sunday that it had tightened security within Abuja.
A statement signed by the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, read in part, “The APC primary election is scheduled to hold from June 6 to June 7, 2022 at Eagle’s Square. The event is often associated with a high influx of different calibre of people, especially the politicos thereby requiring augmentation of the working security architecture of the FCT.”
The police also stated that it had deployed operatives to strategic points within the country’s capital.
