The National Democratic Congress, NDC, has been grappling with internal conflicts following its recent primaries. Amidst reports of aggrieved aspirants threatening to defect, the party has moved to heal wounds and avert potential losses.
Chieftain Patrice Akwara, who spoke on Arise Television on Friday, revealed that the party had constituted reconciliation committees at the national and regional levels to address grievances and unite members.
Some aspirants were reportedly disappointed after losing the contests, particularly after investing financial and emotional resources in their campaigns.
According to Akwara, the challenges were normal 'teething problems' associated with a new political organisation. 'From an observer’s point of view, we expect internal reconciliation to smoothen some of the rough edges and some of the issues that arose during the primaries.'
Akwara explained that grievances were inevitable in competitive primaries, stressing that unsuccessful aspirants should support whoever emerged as the party's candidate.
'The primaries are like any other competition. You win some, you lose some. If you lose, you didn’t actually lose. It’s just that somebody has to fly the flag of the party, so that everybody will come together,' he said.
Regarding reports that some candidates could not find their names on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, portal, Akwara attributed the situation to technical glitches during the uploading process.
'There are some glitches and at the point of uploading some names, the timeline caught up with those uploading and some names appeared vacant,' he said.
However, he expressed confidence that the affected candidates would be properly captured, citing statutory provisions allowing such corrections.
There is no cause for alarm. I don’t think we’re alarmed,' he said.
On possible defections by aggrieved aspirants, Akwara said the leadership had made arrangements to retain them.
'Associations like political parties are like a market square – free entry, free exit. But I can assure you that the national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, and his team have made adequate arrangements to ensure that every aggrieved aspirant, every aggrieved member, is persuaded to still remain in the party,' he said.
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Patrice Akwara, a prominent NDC chieftain, believes the party's primaries were normal 'teething problems' associated with a new organisation.
Akwara attributed the recent challenges within the NDC to the normal teething problems of a new political organisation.
According to Akwara, these teething problems are common in competitive political primaries.
Patrice Akwara, NDC chieftain, said that even though some candidates were left out of the primaries, they will be captured in the final INEC list due to statutory provisions.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) aims to rebuild Nigeria and restore confidence in its economic system.