APC Primaries: Senate Leader defends consensus option

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: Senate Majority Leader and Ekiti Central Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele has defended the consensus provision in Nigeria’s electoral law, insisting that no candidate can be imposed on any constituency under the arrangement and that a single objection is enough to trigger full direct primaries.

Bamidele, who played a central role in the passage of the Electoral Act under which the All Progressives Congress APC is currently conducting its 2026 governorship primaries, spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the exercise, expressing satisfaction with the turnout of party officials.

“I could also see that virtually all the members of the National Working Committee of the party are here other than the chairman and the national secretary. It means that they are according a lot of importance to this process and it’s just the way to go. I just think it’s the right thing to do”, he said.

On the controversy trailing the consensus option embedded in the Electoral Act, Bamidele said the provision carries no room for backroom deals. He explained that even where a candidate enjoys unanimous endorsement, the primaries process cannot be bypassed entirely.

“In any case there will always be primaries. Even where you have only one aspirant, there will still be primaries because for someone who has been endorsed by consensus, everybody will still go to the ward, everybody will still participate in the primaries because there will still be the need to do an endorsement — open endorsement at the ward level. So there’s nothing that can be done under the table whether you are doing direct primaries or you are doing consensus”, he stated.

The senator explained that the legislature deliberately removed the indirect primaries model — in which a narrower delegate pool made decisions — as a safeguard against elite capture of the process. “We didn’t think a few people in the name of delegates should take decisions on behalf of the people,” he said.

Pressed on why consensus arrangements in Ekiti’s local politics have frequently attracted controversy, Bamidele acknowledged the uneven record but drew on his own candidacy as an example of how the process can work without coercion.

He disclosed that he had already submitted both his expression of interest and nomination forms, and that no challenger had emerged from within his district.

“Stakeholders within my central district came to me to express satisfaction about the quality of representation that I’ve been able to give by the grace of God. And all of them said none of us is running against you. I didn’t have to lobby for it. I didn’t have to do anything to discourage that. It’s just that no other person has obtained the form. And it is not by any form of coercion”, he explained.

He however said his experience was personal and not representative of statewide conditions, acknowledging that other senatorial districts in Ekiti may not reach the same level of unanimity.

“This does not mean that the same thing will happen in all the three central districts in Ekiti. But again, in the event that anyone disagrees with a consensus arrangement, the law is that there must be primaries.

So anyone that wants to contest will still be given a chance to contest. A consensus is only a suggestion — which is usually a suggestion made by stakeholders within the party. But where you have anyone who is opposed to it, you just have to go to parliament”, he stated.

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