THE All Progressive Congress (APC) says every member of the party will be eligible to vote in deciding who becomes the party’s presidential candidate for the 2019 general election.

This was one of the resolutions reached on Thursday’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party held at its National Secretariat in Abuja.

National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, announced that a direct primary election will be held to choose the party’s presidential candidate, but for all other positions, an indirect primary would be adopted.

A direct primary means that all card-carrying members of the APC will be eligible to vote, but in an indirect primary, only the delegates elected from the various wards, local governments and state chapters of the party will be eligible to vote.

The issue of direct or indirect primaries has threatened to throw the APC into another round of crisis, with reports saying some governors on the party’s platform had threatened to leave if direct primaries were approved for all elective positions.

Also speaking at the NEC meeting, Oshiomhole said his leadership did its best to address some of the concerns raised by members of the party, even though some still left because of the personal reasons.

“I repeat, those that left for personal ambition, those with no political address, migrant politicians and rolling stones politicians, I won’t lose my sleep,” he said.

“We have purged ourselves of excess fat that will clog our veins and we are much more certain of our future.

“Those who have grievances arising from genuine misunderstanding, our responsibilities is to help our party to have common ground and genuinely resolve those issues and we have been trying our best to do so as can be attested to by those that have remained.”

For his part, President Buhari urged members of the party to work together to ensure that the decisions reached at the meeting were successfully implemented.

I urge all and sundry to ensure that we play the game according to the rules. Let us come out with free, fair and credible primaries which will be a precursor to free, fair and credible general elections next year.

“Let us shine the light through our primaries and the rest of the country will find the way. Our primaries must be in complete compliance with the provision of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, the Electoral Act and above all the constitution of our party, the APC,” Buhari said.

“The times in which we call for unity, harmony and togetherness, let us all join hands to move our party forward, we must take our party to the next level and I urged all and sundry to give support to our national working committee.”