By KABS KANU :
With the whole nation and the diaspora enveloped in anxiety and suspense over just who the ruling All People’s Congress ( APC ) presidential flag bearer will be, the National and International Coordinator of the party , Mr. Leonard Balogun Koroma, has told COCORIOKO that the APC presidential candidate could be unveiled well ahead of the much-awaited National Delegates Convention on Friday October 13-Saturday October 14 and “All the other aspirants will accept and support this candidate .”
The flag bearer is slated to be known during the National Delegates Convention at the weekend, but Mr. Koroma agreed that it was also possible that the presidential candidate could be announced before that .
PRESIDENT KOROMA IS SEEN HERE FRATERNIZING WITH APC PRESIDENTIAL FLAG BEARER ASPIRANTS LAST WEEK. Courtesy : State House
In an exclusive interview with COCORIOKO, Mr. Koroma, who is also Minister of Transport and Aviation , dispelled notions being expressed on the social media by the opposition and dissident elements that APC flag bearer aspirants will turn against the chosen or elected presidential candidate and trigger discontent, dissension and chaos in the party that will affect it in the forthcoming 2018 elections. Some doomsayers were even asserting that the choice of presidential candidate will lead to a breakaway faction that will join an opposition party , presumably the Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP).
Mr.Koroma, one of the chief strategists of the APC , described all such speculations as foolish. He explained the reasons : “I have been in the APC for 48 years. One of the strategies you do not see in other parties is our internal structure and control mechanisms. Party discipline and unity are supreme. Divisiveness and factionalism have no place in the APC. At the end of the day, we have the mechanism to select or elect our flag bearer .Our party constitution allows for election or selection .Whatever structure we believe will maintain unity that is what we are going to use to get our flag bearer and all APC members will accept that .”
Logus Koroma stated that the Chairman of the party, President Ernest Koroma, in his wisdom , “will guide the selection or election process . This is the tradition of the party. There will be consultations and after that we select or elect our candidates. It is a process that every APC member knows and accepts, so we are not expecting any problem after we choose our flagbearer “, Mr. Koroma elucidated.
Logus said that the rank and file of the APC have great confidence in the chairmanship of President Ernest Koroma. “He brought the APC back from the brink after it was destroyed by a coup in 1992 . I want to tell you that after we complete the consultations , we will have a flag bearer and all of those who are not chosen will toe the line in the interest of party unity. The other aspirants will support whoever emerges, whether through selection or election . I have been in the APC for 48 years and I have never seen a vacancy for flag bearer. It has always been done through our constitution. ”
The whole nation and Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora are anxiously waiting to know the APC flag bearer. Facebook, online and Whatsapp forums are buzzing with speculations and promotional articles for the aspirants , but so far nobody has been able to correctly guess who will be the presidential candidate.
The anxiety will come to an end this week.
