APC adopts Buhari as presidential candidate ahead of primary

- APC says aspirants interested in the presidential race are free to pick the party's nomination form 

- Spokesperson for the party, Maimala Buni, states that the NEC of APC has passed a vote of confidence on Buhari as its presidential candidate 

- INEC threatens to suspend 2019 general election over political tension 

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has adopted Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate for the 2019 election. The Guardian reports that the decision to adopt Buhari comes ahead of the party’s presidential primary scheduled to hold on September 20, 2018. 

The national secretary of the party, Maimala Buni, said though the national executive council (NEC) of the party had already endorsed the candidature of the president, other members interested in the presidential race were free to pick the party's nomination form. 

“Once the National Executive Committee of the party passes a vote of confidence on the president, that president stands accepted because the NEC is the highest organ of the party and it met to take the decision, where every interest was represented,” said Buni. 

“So the NEC of APC has passed a vote of confidence on our president and that means every APC member has endorsed him.” The APC spokesperson said the decision to adopt Buhari as the party’s candidate was not new, noting that such was the same practice in advanced democracies. “In advanced democracies, once the NEC of a party passes the vote of confidence on the president, nobody contests against the president. The president has been accepted,” the APC chief said. 

He said Buhari would be given the right of first refusal, but that having accepted the nomination form, it means that he is the party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 election. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has reportedly hinted that the body might be forced to suspend the 2019 general election following threats to violence by some politicians in the country. 

Leadership reports that the Yakubu, a professor, stated this in reaction to some disturbing videos of political campaigns in the social media in which some politicians are seen threatening to shed blood. Yakubu who reportedly spoke when he received briefing from the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Osun state on the progress and the preparedness of the forthcoming governorship election, noted that recent developments and signs in the country’s political landscape calls for greater vigilance.