With the November 8, 2025, Anambra governorship election approaching, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, has called on party members in the state to channel their financial resources into building the party rather than causing divisions.
Ganduje made this appeal on Tuesday in Abuja while receiving an APC youth group, Booth to Booth with Bola Tinubu.
He urged party stakeholders to unite and create an enabling environment for a smooth primary election, stressing that internal conflicts and litigation must be avoided.
“Anambra should assist in providing a conducive atmosphere. As a party, if we are to have a good primary in the state, all our stakeholders are supposed to be born again,” Ganduje said.
“There are issues of litigations, court orders, etc. We have told them that this time around, business should not be as usual. Let us support the system. We know they are very rich, they have a lot of money, but they should not use the money to scatter the state.
“They should use the money to build the state, not to scatter the state. They should use the money to build APC, it will succeed.
“In fact, I will be highly impressed if they can produce a candidate by consensus. I will give them an award.”
On the mode of primaries to be adopted for the governorship ticket, Ganduje stated that the APC National Working Committee would deliberate on the matter in consultation with the state chapter and key stakeholders before making a decision.
Meanwhile, the leader of Booth to Booth with Bola Tinubu, Iyke Madu, urged the APC leadership to adopt an indirect primary for the Anambra election to ensure credibility and prevent a repeat of past mistakes.
“Before the election comes a primary election for the party. We are here to also make a request from you, sir, and the leadership of the National Working Committee, which is to see to it that a credible, free, transparent primary is conducted in Anambra state,” Madu said.
“This is to avoid the pitfalls of 2021, where primaries were supposed to have been conducted, and election results were announced in hotel rooms. A candidate got up to 300,000 votes in the primaries but on election day could not even get up to 50,000 votes.
“So, we are here to humbly request for you to ensure that a free, fair, and credible primary election is conducted in Anambra state.”
Madu also expressed concerns over reports that the APC might adopt a direct primary election, arguing that insecurity in Anambra made it impractical.
“We also have one more request. We heard, though it has not been confirmed, that the party is planning to conduct direct primaries in the state, which involves every member of the party. That is what we heard. It is a rumour, and that is why we said we have not confirmed it.
“There is the issue of insecurity in Anambra state as we speak. Even the state government could not conduct their own local government elections due to insecurity. They wrote to some communities informing them that elections could not be conducted in those areas due to security challenges.
“If a state government cannot conduct its own local government election due to insecurity, it is going to be difficult for a party that does not control the state to conduct direct primaries.
“So, we are here humbly requesting for the party to make these primaries indirect, as our constitution provides for that. In situations where we have delegates, they should come into a particular place, and if possible, it should be televised on national TV. With that, any candidate that emerges, I don’t think any other person will have any reason to question it,” Madu added.
