The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State has dismissed claims that there were irregularities associated with the pre-primaries that produced the party’s candidates for the House of Assembly and House of Representatives position in the area.
The party had conducted its pre-primaries on Sunday, April 17, 2022 in Bonny where a former Chairman of Bonny LGA, Edward Pepple, and a former Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC Bonny chapter, Ene Longjohn, were said to have been elected as the party’s candidates for the House of Representatives and House of Assembly elections, respectively.
But emerging reports have it that the outcome of the process has sparked outrage among the party faithful, who claim the process was fraught with anomalies.
But the Leader of the APC in Bonny LGA, George Tolofari told Kristina Reports in a telephone interview on Monday, April 18, 2022, that the process was a smooth, transparent and credible process.
He called on the aggrieved aspirants to sheathe their swords and work together to forge a common front ahead of the forthcoming 2023 general elections, reminding them that the interest of the party, which was to win the election, was the focal convergence point to which all should rally around.
He debunked claims that there was a fracas at the venue of the pre-primaries, asserting that he personally intervened to calm the situation when “some uninvited members of the party and other youths gained access into the venue and interrupted proceedings,” saying that the restive party faithful later left the venue at his behest while the process continued undisturbed.
On the claim by one of the House of Representatives aspirants, Fubara Hart that he convened a meeting at his residence with the ward chairmen and secretaries and directed them on “what to do”, Tolofari denied the claim, saying the Chairman of APC Ward 10, Fubara Hart’s own ward, was in attendance and can confirm that nothing of such took place at the said meeting.
To buttress his position, Tolofari, who is a former Commissioner for Transport in the State, initiated a conference with one of the Ward Chairmen, who, though preferred not to be named, corroborated his stance, confirming that the meeting was only to inform the ward chairmen upfront of the imminent meeting and the need for cohesion ahead of the 2023 elections.
Fubara Hart, a former Permanent Secretary in the Rivers State Government, had claimed in an interview with Kristina Reports that “earlier that morning before this meeting, I heard that George himself called the secretaries and chairmen to his house and briefed them on what to do”.
On the demand by Mr. Hart that the party’s delegates from Degema LGA must be part of the process to produce a candidate, Tolofari clarified that extant template was for “any local government between Bonny and Degema whose turn it is to produce the candidate, members of the party in that local government will elect the aspirant and transmit to the sister local government area for adoption”.
He added that “this happened in 1999 and 2003 with Amaopusenibo Tonye Longjohn; in 2007 and 2011 with Dr. Sokonte Davies. Also in 2015, it was Bonny PDP that produced Hon. Randolph Brown and Degema adopted him”.
On the claim of another aspirant, Dabota Godswill-Jumbo that she was denied right of first refusal being the candidate of the party in 2019, the Bonny APC leader debunked such, noting that Mrs. Godswill-Jumbo was a beneficiary of the party’s consensus arrangement in 2019 and the collective position of the party was to produce candidates for the 2023 election via consensus, stressing that no such arrangement existed.
He also dismissed claims by another aspirant, Onimi Kabaka-Brown that ward women and youth leaders were denied franchise in the process, saying the APC constitution was clear on who are the delegates for such process, maintaining that it was not in his power to ‘anoint’ anyone as demanded of him by Mr. Kabaka-Brown.
He maintained that he was a leader to all the aspirants and had no reason to disenfranchise any of them or deny them the opportunity to fly the party’s flag, adding that “whichever of them that wins the election has nothing to offer me so what would have been my interest in skewing the process in favour of anyone of them”.
“I asked those of them who approached me to adopt them as sole candidate that I cannot do that; that they should go consult with other party leaders as well as members of the party. Everyone knows the party has always used consensus in arriving at candidates. From myself to Aye, Edward, Tonye Longjohn, and even Fubara Hart himself are all products of consensus.”
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