Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, has commended the conduct of the All Progressives Congress (APC) direct primaries in the state, describing the exercise as peaceful, orderly and a strong expression of internal democracy.
The governor made the remark on Saturday after casting his vote at Jekadafari Nursery School, which served as the venue for the House of Representatives primary election in Gombe metropolis.
Yahaya expressed satisfaction with both the turnout of party members and the performance of officials supervising the exercise.
“Not only have I seen it, I also participated in the exercise, and I’m happy with the turnout and the conduct of the people, as well as the elections monitoring committee and the management of the elections by the party.
I’m sure that is what is happening everywhere in the state and I believe we shall have a peaceful primary election,” he said.
He urged members of the All Progressives Congress to remain united after the primaries, stressing that the outcome should not divide the party.
“We are one big family. There is no victor and there is no vanquished as far as I’m concerned. They are all APC members,” Yahaya stated.
“I urge everybody to cooperate because for us as one party, we don’t have winners and losers. We shall continue to move together in order to deliver on the yearnings and aspirations of the people of Gombe State.” he said.
Explaining the party’s adoption of direct primaries after earlier discussions on consensus, the governor said the process reflected true democratic practice and broad participation.
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“The primaries being conducted now are what democracy is all about. Members have embraced democracy and they are participating peacefully,” he added.
On voter participation, Yahaya said he was “more than satisfied” with the level of engagement and the orderly manner in which the exercise was conducted.
“With what I saw, I’m convinced beyond reasonable doubt that enough preparations have been made and the people are conducting themselves peacefully,” he said.
Similarly, Chairman of the APC Electoral Committee, Kabiru Musa, described the exercise as exemplary.
“The fact is that this is a model election conducted here in this ward. We are impressed with the turnout and the free and fair atmosphere,” he said.
“This serves as a model that elections can be peaceful, rigorous, free, fair and credible. Everything has gone well.”
Our correspondent observed that voting at Dawarki Ward began around 11 a.m. and was concluded within 20 minutes.
At Jekadafari Ward, the exercise started at 11:54 a.m. and ended around 12:05 p.m., with the process described as orderly and conducted under tight security.