Rumbles In Ogun APC Over Primaries

FEMI OYEWESO in this report writes that the bad blood generated following the outcome of the recently held primary elections of the Ogun State chapter of All Progressives Congress is threatening its prospect in the forthcoming general elections

Though the primary elections of the Ogun State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has come and gone, the controversies generated is yet to abate. The disagreement has so much degenerated to disaffection and serious hatred which is now threatening the prospect of the party in Ogun state.

It is observed that this brouhaha transpired because many who had hitherto nursed the ambition of aspiring for elective positions have been injured to the marrows. Hence, if all these party members who sustained varying degrees of injuries in the course of conducting the exercise are not genuinely appeased, the dissatisfaction still trailing the aftermath of the primary elections may rob the party of any electoral victory in the forthcoming elections in the state.

The controversy is more intense in the struggle to get the party’s governorship ticket.

Of course, two governorship candidates emerged through the parallel primaries conducted in the state. While Prince Dapo Abiodun emerged through a governorship direct primary mode of the election conducted by the Mohammed Indabawa-led APC electoral committee, Hon. Abdul – Kabir Adekunle Akinlade emerged through the direct primary mode of the election conducted by the Chief Derin Adebiyi led state executive committee.

Results of the parallel primaries which produced Abiodun and Akinlade have, however, made the political bigwigs within the state chapter of the partyto be  at dagger drawn, ready to throw away the baby with the bathwater. While many of them have vowed not to work for the electoral success of Prince Abiodun who emerged as the party’s governorship candidate after the primaries supervised by members of the APC electoral committee sent by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, others have threatened to defect to another political party to realise their ambitions.

For instance, reports have it that a substantial number of APC members who belonged to the Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s camp have in principles, defected to other political parties. Aside from this, sources close to the governor’s office at Oke -Mosan, Abeokuta, who pleaded anonymity, also confided in LEADERSHIP that Amosun had given his consent to work for the electoral success of the governorship candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) penultimate week when former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited him in his office.

Aside from APC members defecting to other political parties, the dissatisfaction generated by the conduct of the APC primary elections in Ogun has also forced the political juggernauts to resort to a campaign of calumny against one another, particularly, the Amosun’s camp and that of Abiodun who won the APC’s gubernatorial ticket. They also resorted to hiring protesters to drum support for each other’s candidate. The protesters include allegedly hired youths in the state, members of the transport unions as well as the market men and women who drum support for their chosen candidate with the sole aim of de-marketing each other.

A typical example of the protest was the rallies staged by councilors elected on the platform of the party who on Friday 26 October, staged solidarity rally at the campaign office of Abiodun in Iperu Remo, hailing the NWC’s decision on Ogun gubernatorial primary election. But four days later, another set of councilors elected on the same platform of APC also held a meeting at the Oba’s Complex Conference Hall, State Secretariat Complex, Oke- Mosan, Abeokuta where they declared that they would not support Abiodun except Akinlade who is Amosun’s anointed successor.

The Ogun APC women were also not left out of the game as hundreds of them under the aegis of Women In Politics (WIN) led by Mrs Abosede Akande also embarked on protest. The placard wilding protesters in Abeokuta also declare their supports for Abiodun.

While these were on-going, observers and analysts have continued to express dismay over the occurrences and ask questions regarding why Amosun’s preferred candidate, Akinlade lost out.