APC National Convention: Aspirant promises automatic tickets for lawmakers

An All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmanship aspirant, Sani Musa, has promised that members of the party at the National Assembly will get the first right of refusal for return tickets during the elections, if elected.

Mr Musa, a serving senator, made the promise while addressing the APC caucus of the House of Representatives on Tuesday in Abuja.

He was responding to a question from Ahmed Jaha (APC, Borno) on the high turnover of members of the National Assembly.

Mr Jaha had lamented the inability of legislators to get return tickets of their party and asked the aspirant what he would do about the situation, if he is elected at the party’s national convention on March 26.

Mr Musa said he would make it a policy of the party to give lawmakers the right of refusal for tickets. He, however, said the privilege will be based on the performance of the lawmakers.

He explained when the policy is in place, peer review will be carried out to assess the performance of every lawmaker elected on the party’s platform.

Mr Musa also spoke on the need for a sustainable source of funding for the ruling party.

According to him, the party has no reason to depend on the governors of the party for funding but that it should leverage on its 42 million registered members to raise funds.

The senator, who represents Niger East Senatorial District, also pledged support for the inclusion of women.

He stated that there is a plan for youth and women, noting that the party must define affirmative action because the concept is so vast.

Meanwhile, another aspirant, Abdulaziz Yari, has said the APC needs someone with his experience to run the party in order to win the 2023 presidential election.

Mr Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, stated this on Tuesday during a meeting with the House of Representatives APC Caucus.

He said the APC will be going into the 2023 elections without the12 million votes President Muhammadu Buhari secured in the previous elections to defeat his opponents and therefore, the party needs to get someone with his experience to navigate it.

Mr Yari, a former member of the House of Representatives, who is in the race despite the micro-zoning of the chairmanship position to the North-central geopolitical zone, said he was not aware of the zoning arrangement of the party.

The former governor, who frowned at zoning, said that members of the party were trying to break the jinx called zoning by embracing real democracy.