‘APC Consensus Mode Adoption, Antidote To Post Primary Election Crisis’

A group, BAO Grassroots Support Group, has described the adoption of a consensus mode for candidate selection as an antidote to the post-primary election crisis that usually dogs electoral primaries.

The group backing the re-election bid of Ekiti State governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, hailed the decision of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to adopt the mode.

Listing other advantages of the consensus mode of primary, the group said the progressive parties that preceded the APC had always favoured it.

The group, in a statement on Monday by its state coordinator, Prince Tunji Ogunlola and Director of Publicity, Mr Odunayo Ogunmola, also commended the conduct of the ongoing registration and revalidation exercise by the APC in all the 177 wards in the state, describing the exercise so far as peaceful, hitch-free and successful.

It also contended that consensus mode prevented aspirants from engaging in unnecessary resource waste and heavy spending, which it said, “are consequent upon desperation to grab the party’s ticket” and the attendant acrimony they breed.

The loyalists of the governor also said the consensus mode of primary fosters discipline and party supremacy among party leaders, aspirants and their supporters, further describing the mode as “an important determinant of the true test of loyalty of party members”, most especially when the result of the consensus does not favour them.

The group said further: “The consensus mode gives aspirants who belong to minority communities, minority sub-ethnic nationalities and minority religious blocs opportunities to be chosen as candidates, which may not be possible if the process is subjected to an elective mode of primary.

“Unlike the elective mode of primary, the consensus mode helps to cement party unity, peace and harmony, prevents hijacking of party structure and machinery by moneybags and helps to minimise cash-and-carry politics that usually dogs the use of delegates allowed by the elective mode of primary.”

The BAO Grassroots Support Group commended the APC leaders in Ekiti for taking what it called “the wise decision” to adopt consensus, which it said would go a long way toward stabilising and strengthening the party.

Speaking on its assessment of the registration and revalidation exercise, the BAO Grassroots Support Group described the process as an opportunity to strengthen and reposition the party and to allow more citizens to participate in the political affairs of their state.