APC aspirant Gyang Zi,SAN, backs direct primary, warns against imposition
By Yakubu Busari
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Plateau State and Plateau Northern senatorial aspirant, Mr Gyang Zi,SAN, has urged the party leadership to adopt direct primaries in selecting candidates for future elections.
Zi , a legal practitioner, warned against the imposition of candidates as the party prepares for general election 2027 .
Gyang Zi stated this during an interview with journalists in Jos on Monday , he described the practice of imposing candidates as unjust to party members led to PDP engulfed in series of crises since 1999 .
He commended the conduct of the party’s local government congress held on Saturday across the 17 local government areas of the state, saying direct primaries remained the best way to pick popular candidates.
The APC Plateau Northern Senatorial aspirant said, “I don’t think we are beginning to get it right. Why must you impose some people through a few individuals? That is what was done in the past. You appoint delegates, dictated by some leaders to go and select candidates for thousands or millions of people. It is very wrong.
“You sit somewhere and decide. Even when electing ward leaders, chairmen, secretaries, and women leaders, they were imposed on people. An individual would just decide to put names forward, and that would be it.”
Reiterating his support for direct primaries, Zi said every registered party member should have the opportunity to participate in choosing candidates.
“Now, if you are a member of a political party and you carry a card identifying you as such, you can come out and join others to choose who should be your candidate in an election.
“That is perfectly in order. I don’t think anybody should oppose that. I believe we are making progress democratically and politically under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
He also expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise.
Zi canvassed the support of all a sundry that ,if given the chance to serve he would improve the well-being of Plateau Northern Senatorial District.
He pledged his commitment to the development of the All Progressives Congress,APC, that won the party landslide victory at the election tribunal which returned the 22 members of the State Assembly and the defection of the Labour Party reps members .
Gyang Zi expressed satisfaction with the performance of the APC leadership in Nigeria under amiable leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu .
He said, amongst all the contestants that contested for the 2023 election he was the first person that moved with his team to joined the APC including the two members of Riyom/Barkin Ladi and Jos South/ Jos East federal constituencies.
” For all of us that came out for the contest ,I came to the APC before all of them and I have been very very committed to the structure of the party today in Plateau State also I was involved in given it a life .
” You remember after the 2023 general election almost all the positions were lost that APC has to go to court to recovered those positions and I played one of the key role towards ensuring that sanity was brought back to the system “,he said.
Zi ,SAN , stressed that the former governor Simon Lalong lost his seat but through the legal process he is now a senator representing Plateau Southern Senatorial District and all the members of the National Assembly today by special grace of God courtesy of my efforts we reclaimed back their seat .
He disclosed that after the tribunal judgement he worked hard to ensure that the Labour Party members that won defected back to APC immediately .
Zi explained that as the team leader ,he makes sure that they all moved to APC from those that contested for Chairmanship,state assembly and National Assembly in March,2023 as a bloc .
He reiterated his contributions to the progress of APC in Plateau State as continue solicit the cooperation of APC supporters ahead of 2027 general election .
