APC responds to Labour Party candidate's claims of primary issues

The Labour Party's candidate for Adamawa South senatorial seat, Peter Fwa, has said he left the All Progressives Congress because of what he called injustice and lack of democracy in the party's Adamawa State chapter.

The APC in Adamawa State rejected Fwa's claims. They said he is trying to damage the party's reputation.

Fwa, who won the Labour Party senatorial primary election on Saturday night in Yola, spoke to journalists on Monday. He insisted that no undemocratic practices would stop his ambition to serve his constituency.

“I resigned from APC, which I have been a member of the party for about 10 years, before I discovered that the leaders of the party were not ready to follow the rules of democracy, which includes fairness, transparency and level playing grounds for all participants,” he said.

He also alleged that there were irregularities in the APC primary process. He claimed candidates were wrongly assigned to different positions.

“You people are all in Adamawa State. People that bought forms for governorship were overnight declared as senatorial candidates. Some bought forms for senatorial seat, and they were declared winners of House of Representatives; do you say such a party is practising democracy?” he asked.

Fwa is confident about his chances in the 2027 senatorial election. He said he is counting on grassroots support to win.

“I am going to win the Senate election come 2027,” he said.

He is expected to compete against the current senator Binos Dauda Yaroe, who has left the APC for the African Democratic Congress. He will also face Felix Tangwami, who was once linked to a governorship run but is now a senatorial candidate on the APC ticket.

Both Fwa and Tangwami come from Demsa Local Government Area in southern Adamawa.

In response, APC spokesman Victor Dogo said the primaries were held openly and fairly.

“We conducted primaries openly; the media covered the exercise, people lined up to vote for their preferred candidates, so where is the injustice?” he said.

“I challenge Labour Party and other political parties to show us the videos of their primary elections in Adamawa State,” he added.