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No decision yet on zoning of presidential ticket – APC

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The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, said on Friday the party has not taken any decision on the zoning of its 2023 presidential ticket.

Adamu, who disclosed this to State House Correspondents after presenting the APC governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Abiodun Oyebanji, to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the decision on which zone would produce the party’s presidential flag bearer was beyond him.

He also revealed that the party did not regret charging N100 million for its presidential nomination form.

The ruling party had about two weeks ago pegged the nomination and expression of interest forms for presidential aspirants at N100 million and N50 million for their governorship counterparts.

The action, according to the APC chairman, was made to fend off unqualified candidates and raise adequate finances ahead of the 2018 elections.

He added that the decision to sell the party’s presidential nomination form at such a hefty amount was aimed at deterring parties with little prospect of winning elections from paying individuals to act as spoilers.

READ ALSO: 2023: Only candidate with capacity to win election will get APC presidential ticket – Uzodinma

The chairman said: “We have been listening with rapt attention to the hues and cries from our lovers and adversaries. We have no regrets whatsoever.

“We did some homework; we know what it takes to go through primaries, go through the presidential campaign, go through elections to be president; we know what it takes.

“We also do know that there are citizens who are qualified to contest, but who are not serious contenders, who will just want to take anything cheap by the roadside. Even the enormity of work that has to be done – and this work will be done with money.

“And we don’t want to continue to beg, particularly in an election year. So we want to see that we are able to mobilise sufficient funds to support our efforts to win the election.

“The criticism, in some quarters, may be well-founded – I have no quarrel with that, but we wear the shoes for our party and we know where it pinches.”

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