By Emmanuel Awari-Jalingo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State has adopted the direct mode of primary election for the selection of aspirants contesting House of Representatives positions across the state.
Chairman of the APC National Assembly Primary Election Committee, Mr. Tsenongo Abancha, disclosed this while distributing election materials shortly after the committee’s late arrival in Jalingo.
Abancha apologized to party members and residents over the delay, attributing it to transportation challenges from Abuja and the late arrival of election materials.
“I want to first of all apologize to the people of Taraba for arriving very late. It was not intentional because Taraba is quite far from Abuja and we could not come by road.
“We collected the materials and we have to wait for flight which makes us to arrive here late, but we are glad that the process is starting in earnest.
According to him, the only available flight arrived late in the day, delaying both the committee and sensitive materials for the exercise.
He assured party members and stakeholders that the process would be transparent, peaceful and in line with the APC constitution.
“The election is be Direct Primaries. We are sending materials first to headquarters of various Constituencies to the Wards and come back through same process.
“I want to assure the people of Taraba that it is going to be a smooth operation.
He added that the exercise may extend beyond one day due to the wide geographical spread of the state.
“The process can continue throughout the night and even spill over to the next day because of the long distances involved across the state.
Abancha further dismissed fears of manipulation, insisting that the exercise would be credible and transparent.
“We are going to be transparent, objective, honest and clear with what we are doing. The forms are here and, as you can see, they have not been tampered with,” he said.
He urge people to cooperate with the committee for a positive result.
“If anybody have doubt, he should feel free to call me or ask, I will be here to give clearance to whatever issue that may arise.
“Feel free to report to me if you discover that something is wrong or happing somewhere in any part of the state, I will be glad to attend to that – he added.
Earlier, the Taraba State APC Chairman, Abubakar Bawa, welcomed the committee and pledged the party’s support towards ensuring a successful exercise.
Bawa expressed optimism that the primaries would be peaceful and produce credible candidates for the party.
Members of the committee are, Hon. Tsengo Abancha – Chairman, Hon. Sunday Madu Gadzama, Alh. Garba Abubakar, Hon. Ismail Hussein, Aisha Nancy Yahaya and Shalong Dauda as Members while Hon. Emmanuel Egu is the Secretary.
The Appeal Committee has, Ahmed Nasiru – Chairman, Alh. Tukur Abdullahi, Godiya Gani and Barr. Dido Samuel as Members while Hon. Dogonyaro Nanjul as Secretary.