Buhari , Atiku Clash Ahead 2015

Two strong Presidential aspirants under the
platform of the main opposition party, All
Progressives Congress, APC, at the weekend
clashed.
Vanguard reported that, Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari and former vice-president Atiku Abubakar,
shared divers opinion over the procedure for
adopting the 2015 presidential candidate for the
party.
It was gathered that at the end of the party’s
National Executive Committee, NEC meeting last
weekend, the party was unable to compromise on
the issue as supporters of the major aspirants
held strongly to their positions.
Aside Buhari and Atiku, who were reportedly at
the head of the major divisions over the adoption
of a consensus or the conduct of primaries for
the adoption of the presidential candidate, Kano
State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwanso and Sam
Nda-Isaiah were also indifferent on the subject
matter.
Meanwhile, Edo State Governor, Adams
Oshiomhole, whose aide was at the meeting was
reported to have been mute on the issue since
the governor is yet to officially declare his
intention to run for president.
According to a source within the party, Buhari
and his supporters want a consensus on the
ground that majority of the party positions across
board were filled with consensus. They posited
that if the consensus arrangement is jettisoned
for any reason that a direct primary involving all
18 million registered members of the party be
held.
However, their opinion is strongly opposed by
Atiku’s associates within the party hierarchy who
claimed that a direct primary would be
cumbersome and costly. Atiku’s supporters
proposed what it called a Modified Direct Primary
that would involve about 20,000 delegates
choosing the party candidate.
“The decision of our campaign to support
the Modified Direct Primary is not
because of anything but for its practical
applicability. If you say you want direct
primary, how can you get all 18 million
registered APC voters to take part? That
would mean you will be setting up a vote
in every polling booth, doing the same
thing as INEC is doing. It will be the
same thing as a general election. Where
do you have the resources, the
manpower, the time and the security
support for this?” Atiku said.
Buhari and his allies who negated the proposal
alleged that it would offer opportunity to easily
woo or take over delegates hitherto pledged to
other aspirants. They claimed that the
introduction of full direct primary would limit the
prospect of Atiku wooing the delegates unlike a
modified primary that could see Atiku and his
agents now in the field winning the number of
delegates.
“Having carefully examined our great
party” the APC constitution, especially
Article 20 and the Electoral Act 2010, one
comes to the inevitable conclusion that it
is better to adopt consensus in electing
our candidates for House of Assembly,
House of Representatives, Senate,
Governor and presidential candidates and
where it fails to adopt direct primary,”
one of Buhari’s supporters who did not want his
name in print said.

It said when one considers the bitterness,
rancour and bad blood indirect primary will most
likely generate, it was safer to work towards a
consensual agreement, adding that more than
80% of the ward, local government area and
state congresses which produced the current
executives of the party were conducted through
consensual arrangement as well as more than
95% of the current National Executive Committee
who were also elected via consensus.