JUST IN: Ogun APC Primaries: Akinlade, Otegbeye Reject Gubernatorial Primary Election Panel

Otegbeye and Akinlade

ABEOKUTA - Two governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun state, Messrs Adekunle Akinlade, and Biyi Otegbeye have expressed serious concern over the ability of the party's Governorship Primary Election Committee headed by Mr. Wale Ohu at conducting an unbiased primary.

In a statement addressed to the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu issued in Abeokuta on Thursday and jointly signed by the aspirants, the duo queried the credentials of Mr. Wale Ohu which earned him the chairmanship of the election committee again.

Otegbeye and Akinlade expressly declared that Ohu cannot conduct an objective and impartial gubernatorial primary election for Ogun State, stressing that he is a partisan politician.

They alleged that the election panel did not make available to them the delegate's forms as stipulated in the guidelines for the conduct of the exercise, saying the delegate's forms were only given to Governor Dapo Abiodun, a development they considered abnormal.

They emphatically stated that they do not have confidence in the choice of Wale Ohu as the Chairman of the election panel because he did not make available delegates list for all stakeholders, particularly other governorship aspirants.

The duo said, though, they would participate in the primary election because of their loyalty to the party and respect for its leadership, they, however, warned that post gubernatorial primary election dispute may be inevitable if the election panel failed to make available the authentic delegates list to the other aspirants before the commencement of the exercise.

It would be recalled that, previous congresses conducted by the same Wale Ohu generated disaffection among party members in the state.

"The same Mr. Wale Ohu was the Chairman of the ward, local government, and state congress committees in Ogun state in 2021. The three congresses ended in controversies and deepened the cleavages within the APC in Ogun state. It is noteworthy that the crisis emanating from the congresses featured prominently before the National Reconciliation Committee of the APC under the able leadership of your good self.

" It was, therefore, surprising that the same man, Mr. Wale Ohu was again appointed to serve as Chairman of the gubernatorial primary election in Ogun State. It is intriguing that out of the millions of members of the APC nationwide, Mr. Ohu is having an exclusive preserve of the chairmanship of all congresses in Ogun state.

"Our members who have bitterly complained about the partisan conduct of Mr. Wale Ohu in all the congresses he had super-intended in Ogun State are therefore not comfortable with the choice of him as Chairman of the election panel. By his antecedents, we do not believe that he can conduct an objective and impartial gubernatorial primary election.

"The guidelines for the conduct of congresses in the APC stipulate that aspirants should pay a prescribed fee for Delegate Forms, which we did, but no forms were made available to us. Furthermore, only one aspirant collected all the Delegate forms in the State, thus hedging the entire process in his favor.

"Your Excellency may wish to note that a few hours before the scheduled primaries, no list of delegates for the primary election has been formally published nor did the Primary Election Committee members meet with us in line with standard procedures. This has spurred speculations that the list to be used for the exercise is a disputed list of delegates. Our members are aggrieved about this.

"Against this background, we wish to inform Your Excellency that we have no confidence in the choice of Chairman of the election panel and have fears and reservations about the list of delegates to be used for the exercise. 

"The above notwithstanding, we shall be participating in the primary election because of our loyalty to the party and respect for its leadership. However, we wish to place our concerns on record."