President Bola Tinubu yesterday appealed to members, aspirants and party leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to conduct themselves as sportsmen and women as nationwide primaries kicked off.
Tinubu warned that rancorous behaviour would only serve the opposition and cautioned winners against gloating while urging losers to accept defeat with grace.
In a personal statement he released yesterday, the eve of the commencement of the House of Representatives primaries, Tinubu said the exercises were not merely platforms to produce standard bearers but a referendum on the APC’s unity, resilience and strength as a party entering its fourth election cycle.
He said: “In every contest, there will be a winner and a loser. I urge the winners not to gloat in victory and the losers to show sportsmanship by taking things in their stride and preparing for another time. “The ultimate winners are those who don’t choose to wreck the boat but rather work to prepare for another round.
“Our opponents are waiting for us to be against each other; we should disappoint them.” The president made a pointed reference to a mode of political engagement he said the party had left behind, invoking it precisely to warn against its return.
He said: “We should not play the politics of old, the door-die politics that we have put behind us. “Politics should never be a zero-sum game. Any candidate that wins does so for all of us as a party.” Tinubu said wherever consensus had already been reached among aspirants, it should be maximised to reduce friction.
The President said: “I am aware that, in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 and our party’s constitution, leaders at various levels have initiated conversations to produce consensus candidates.
“It is a commendable option that would help in reducing rancour and bad blood among party members.” But where consensus fails, he said, members must conduct themselves with discipline. Tinubu directed party governors and leaders to ensure a level playing field and rise above personal sentiment.
He also directed that winners and party leaders at all levels reach out to those who did not succeed with olive branches, and urged aspirants who felt aggrieved to approach the party’s redress committees rather than destabilise the process.
