Some stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) in Osun State have cried foul over the recent conduct of the primary elections in the state, alleged manipulative tendencies by the leadership of the party in the state.
Close to two weeks after the conduct of the primaries, neither the party leadership nor the election committee had deemed it fit to officially release results to aspirants and other members of the party. No fewer than 87 aspirants had obtained forms to contest the State House of Assembly primary election to fill the 26 seats. An undisclosed number of aspirants in the state had also obtained forms to contest various seats in the National Assembly.
The party had opted for direct primary, which enabled all party members holding valid membership cards to vote for the aspirants of their choice at each ward’s collation centre of the 332 wards in the state. The State Assembly primary was held on Thursday, last week. On Friday, last week, the House of Representatives primary held while that of the Senatorial took place on Saturday last week. As at the time of this report, official results of the elections were still being awaited.
The inability of the party to disclose results of elections has caused confusion among aspirants and their supporters as conflicting results emerge on social media, apportioning victories and defeats to different aspirants. While some supporters have been congratulating their aspirants on their victories in the exercise based on the social media results, others have been alleging rigging and manipulation by leaders of the party.
There was confusion at the Oke-Fia State Government House, Osogbo on Tuesday, as many members of the party stormed the abode of the governor to protest alleged manipulation of primary elections results in favour of some aspirants by the leadership of the party in the state. The delegates from all the local government areas in the state had been invited to the governor’s to allegedly sign and ratify blank result sheets for the primaries.
In Obokun and Oriade Local Government Area of the state, the leading candidates for the APC House of Representatives primary, Dr. Thomas Ogungbangbe, Professor Andrew Akinmoladun and Dr. Desmond Ojumu and two other aspirants were in a battle to win the ticket.
Some concerned party members had claimed that all indications had pointed to Ogungbagbe being the favourite to win the primary. “However, as voting ended, supporters of the aspirant and other party members began to suspect that all was not well. It turned out that the electoral officer at the LGA was initially warned not to announce a winner until he received instructions from above,” a party chieftain said.
He added: “The consequence of this was much tension within the community with allegations that certain forces within the party wanted to impose Professor Akinmoladun as winner. Furthermore, other aggrieved parties are now asserting that there is another plot to impose a third candidate, Dr. Ojumu as the flag bearer, when another candidate may have won. All this, with various allegations and recorded testimonies of irregularities concerning the primaries and an ongoing attempt to subvert the will of the people.
“At the state level, Secretary of the Congress Committee set up by APC in the state to support the national secretariat in conducting the primary, Mr. Sunday Akere tried to calm frayed nerves by saying that, the results will be announced soon. This did not do much to allay the fears of supporters of Ogungbagbe, who till this moment, continue to assert that the results are being delayed in order to favour another candidate even though theirs was clearly leading the race. Till date there is no official list of the winners of the APC primaries from the 332 wards in the State. This is a serious anomaly that requires urgent intervention.
“If the allegations of attempted imposition of candidates by the APC power structure Osun State are true, then it is indeed an act of impunity and total disregard for democratic principles in the conduct of the primaries in the state. Party primaries are meant to represent the wishes of the people at the local level to choose elected representatives for the benefit of their community.
“However, what we are witnessing is the kind of trend that causes people to lose faith in a system that is supposed to represent their interests at the national level. For outside observers seeing what is happening in Osun State, it would be hard to take the internal democratic process within the APC serious, with a wider implication on the APC-led federal government.
“It is critical that the Osun APC deal conscientiously on the issue of the yet-to-be-announced primary results. In the event that they are unable to do so because of vested interests by certain powerful elements within the state APC, the National Working Committee will need to step in to establish a sense of probity and justice in the system. A situation where one person who was, by all accounts, winning an election, but is suddenly announced to have lost, may bring about retribution on the party by aggrieved individuals,” he said.
While voicing the grievances of some aspirants, a two-term state lawmaker, Hon Waseeu Adebayo said, “It is unheard of, and even a shameful experience, that many days after the primaries have been held, the leaders in the party are unable to declare the winners in the contests.”
Adebayo had called on the national chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu to step in and correct the anomaly.
Meanwhile, Special adviser to governor Gboyega Oyetola, Hon. Sunday Akere in an interview said nobody presented the delegates with blank documents to sign, adding that they were only invited to come and ratify the results which some of them were ready to do but were disturbed to do so by those who perceived their chances were not auspicious in the exercise.
“We thought we should do it at the government house to make it easier and faster but, when we saw the development, they had to be referred to their various constituencies for the ratifications,” he said adding that it was too early for aggrieved aspirants to protest and they should wait for the final announcement by the committee.
Also speaking on a radio programme monitored by our correspondent in Osogbo, the Commissioner for Works and Transport in the state, Remi Omowaiye said the party leadership would make the results of the primary elections public at the appropriate time.
He said: “What gives you the impression that the party had not announced the winner? If we decide as a party that we will want to make it known to the press, that’s the decision of the party but you can’t be too sure that the party had not made its decision. The primaries had been held, results had been collated, winners had emerged and at appropriate time, the party leadership would make the results known to the public if they want to do that.” Continue Reading
