Why APC governors prefer indirect primaries – Junaid Mohammed

A member of the House of Representatives during the Second Republic, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has stated that governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) preferred indirect primaries so that they could call the shot.
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC had announced resolutions as regards the mode of the party’s primary elections.
The NEC had decided that: “Primary Elections into all elective offices shall be by the Direct and Indirect Election or by consensus. The use of the Direct and Indirect Primaries shall however depend on the peculiarity and need of a given state.
“The adopted mode shall now be applied to all categories of the Party’s Primary Elections i.e. State Assembly, Senate, House of Representatives and for the Governorship Elections”.
Reacting, Mohammed said governors would mostly likely have their way since they usually funded primaries in their respective states.
He told Punch: “Governors prefer the indirect method for the primary for the simple reason that they control the party, therefore they dictate who should be the delegates and, of course, they wouldn’t want people who have a free mind to do what their minds tell them.
“It is easier for them to not only choose the delegates, they have the resources to camp these delegates in choice hotels and compromise them to do their bidding.
“Every democrat knows that a direct primary is better than an indirect one for the simple reason that a greater percentage of party members not only have a say but have their way in deciding which party member becomes the party’s standard bearer in the general elections.
“Is it not a paradox that even within the APC, those who are the most vociferous in calling for direct primaries, especially for legislative tickets, are at the same time demanding automatic tickets?
“Their argument that because they have been loyal to the party, they should be exempted from going through the protest of political contest stands logic on its head.”