Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said
the All Progressives Congress as presently
constituted, cannot do without holding an
elective party primary to choose its flag bearer
for the 2015 presidential election.
Atiku said this in an interview with journalists,
in Abuja, on Monday. He was reacting to the
clamour by the Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
campaign team for an automatic ticket for the
retired general.
In a veiled reference to agitations by Buhari’s
supporters for an automatic ticket, Atiku said
such agitations were borne out of a fear of an
elective contest.
According to him, such a campaign can also
be a carryover of the political background of
those seeking for such concessions which is
alien to the APC as it is today.
He said, “There is nothing like automatic ticket
and those people who are asking for
automatic ticket might have been coming from
a political background that did not know
contest before.
“You know the APC is an amalgamation of a
number of political parties that came together
and merged their identities but the APC as
currently constituted cannot escape an
elective mode of primaries.
“There is no zoning, on what basis are you
going to say it is automatic? There is no
allocation as they do in the Peoples
Democratic Party, there is nothing like that so,
on what basis?”
He implored politicians not to be scared of a
political contest because it helps to strengthen
democracy arguing that should he lose in a fair
contest, he would support his party to win the
elections.
In response, the South-East Zonal Publicity
Secretary of the party who belongs to Buhari’s
camp, said neither the general nor his
supporters were afraid of a contest.
He, however, said the long term interest of the
party was of utmost importance because there
was little or no time left for the party to deal
with the rancour which was likely to follow.
Okechukwu said “It is not a question of being
afraid of a contest. Why we are asking for an
automatic ticket for Buhari is on many
grounds. We have seen that the connection
between him, the middle class and the masses
of this country is unparalleled.
“He has a bond with the masses of this
country and the middle class and that kind of
bond generated 12 million votes in 2011 in a
micro CPC, a small CPC, now we have a
broader political party.
“We need to compliment and supplement that
12 million votes instead of running the risk of
the rancour, the bitterness of direct or indirect
primaries. We have to avoid that rancour.”


Source: http://www.punchng.com/politics/atiku-kicks-against-automatic-ticket-for-buhari/

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