By Ibrahim Kegbegbe
Fresh controversy has trailed the conduct of the All Progressives Congress direct primary elections for House of Representatives aspirants across Nigeria, following the emergence of videos allegedly showing irregularities in the counting process by party officials.
The videos, which circulated widely on social media after Saturday’s exercise, captured scenes where some party executives assigned as counters were accused of skipping figures during headcounts, with observers alleging that counts suddenly jumped from 50 to 100, 500, 800 and even 1,260 without corresponding physical verification of people on the queue.
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The development has fueled criticism of the direct primary system, with many party members arguing that earlier warnings against adopting the method were ignored. Critics insist that the process, which relies on manual counting of members lining up behind aspirants, created room for manipulation and cast doubt on the transparency of the exercise.
The Merit Newspaper reports that political watchers say the incident may deepen internal distrust within the ruling party, as aggrieved aspirants and their supporters question whether the outcome in some constituencies truly reflected the will of party members or the discretion of those assigned to count them.
The controversy is expected to spark fresh debates over whether direct primaries can guarantee credible candidate selection in Nigeria’s increasingly tense political climate.
