The All Progressives Congress, APC, has stated that Abia was not among the States it directed to adopt the direct mode of primary elections in the just concluded electoral exercise that produced candidates for the 2023 general elections.
It should be recalled that both High Chief Ikechi Emenike and Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah have been laying claims to the governorship candidacy of the party in Abia State. While Emenike emerged through Indirect primary, Ogah emerged through Direct primary.
It should also be recalled that the Indirect mode of primaries was adopted by the APC for all States but barely 24 hours to the election, a memo dated May 25, 2022 surfaced from the party’s National Office that Abia, Benue and Osun States were to use Direct mode of primaries.
In a letter dated May 26, 2022 and received by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on June 16, 2022, signed by National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Secretary, Senator, Iyiola Omisore, the party stated that Abia State was inadvertently included among the States that were directed to adopt Direct mode of primaries to produce its candidates for the 2023 general elections.
The letter is reproduced below.