APC Governorship Ticket: Aggrieved Aspirants Seek Direct Primary, Allege Hijack

Some All Progressives Congress governorship and state Houses of Assembly aspirants in Ogun, Rivers, Sokoto, Lagos, and Osun states have called for the adoption of a direct primary to elect the party’s candidates in the 2023 elections.

The aspirants, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Tuesday, alleged that governors and some ministers hijacked election of delegates, who would vote at Thursday’s governorship and Houses of Assembly primaries.

They, therefore, called on the national leadership of the party to cancel the delegates’ elections and adopt a direct primary on Thursday.

ABN TV had on Thursday and Monday reported that the election of delegates in Rivers, Sokoto, Benue, and Rivers was characterised by crises with factions rejecting the results.

In the Rivers State APC secretariat, there were gunshots by the police, who dispersed supporters of a governorship aspirant, Senator Magnus Abe, who alleged that a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, hijacked the congress.

Four governorship aspirants in Ogun State —Owodunni Opayemi, Adekunle Akinlade, Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, and Biyi Otegbeye— in a petition to the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, obtained by one of our correspondents on Tuesday, demanded a direct primary for the shadow election that would hold on Thursday.

The APC in the state is divided into two groups with one loyal to the incumbent Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and the other led by his predecessor, Ibikunle Amosun. The party structure is however controlled by the governor.

The four aspirants in the petition they jointly signed alleged that forms were not made available to “non-loyalists of the powers-that-be. This, Sir, is unconstitutional, unfair and undemocratic.”

They stated, “We, therefore, write to state our preference for the direct primary mode in Ogun State for a free and credible primary election.

“The chairman may wish to know that echoes of the disputed 2018 primaries are still being heard in the state and the division in the Ogun State chapter of the APC has yet to be healed.

“The party members across the divide are therefore desirous of having their voices heard in the next elections.

“We also wish to appeal to the chairman to appoint an independent and impartial arbiter to superintend the direct primary election in Ogun State for transparency and fairness.”

In a related development, the National Association of Nigerian Students on Tuesday accused the leadership of the APC of turning a deaf ear to the petitions written against Abiodun.

NANS in a statement signed by its National Public Relations Officer, Victor Ezenagu, knocked the APC for failing to take action.

Several attempts to get reaction from the leadership of the APC in the state failed as the chairman, Yemi Sanusi, did not reply to a text message sent to his mobile line. Several calls to his line were not answered.

But Abiodun, on Tuesday, breezed into the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja.

Abiodun was warmly received by the APC National Chairman who subsequently ushered him in for a closed-door meeting.

Efforts made to speak with the governor after the one-hour meeting proved abortive as he ignored the journalists and entered his car and left the premises.