Ogun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress(APC) on Tuesday night accused National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, of being the problem of state chapter in his desperate bid to manipulate the gubernatorial primary in favour of a particular aspirant.
Since Governor Ibikunle Amosun, allegedly, singlehandedly picked a serving Federal lawmaker, Hon. Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade, as the consensus candidate of the party for the 2019 governorship election in the state, the choice has thrown the Ogun APC into a turmoil following protestations by some party members and other aspirants who believed that Akinlade’s manner of emergence robbed them of an opportunity for a level playing ground.
And hope that the matter will be resolved through direct primary dimmed as the planned governorship primary kept suffering series of postponements due to seemingly inadequate preparation, alleged security and logistic challenges faced by the eight – man electoral Committee sent to the state by the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC.
But in a live broadcast address on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, said Oshiomole is acting a carefully written script about Ogun ostensibly to reach an outcome that would be against the choice of the party.
Adeoluwa however called on President Muhammadu Buhari and other well meaning leaders of the party to prevail on Oshiomole not to set Ogun State on fire in desperation to return unnamed aspirant as party’s governorship flagbearer in the state .
He said the APC in the state would not participate in any further primary until the NWC writes a letter indicating a definite date and an agreement on the mode of the primary.
He said: “We have learnt on good authority that the national headquarters of APC is determined and desperate to force a particular candidate on the people of Ogun state, we will be ready for them and we shall do nothing unlawful.
“We have decided and that is what the leaders have asked me to tell the whole world that, In Ogun state we shall not participate in any primary unless and until the National Working Committee will specifically write to us on a date that will not shift and agree on the mode of primary.
“We decline ballot paper because that is not their own guidelines. We can not smuggle into Ogun state, what has not been practised elsewhere. We don’t know why they are desperate to disturb the peace of Ogun state.
“We hope that the whole of our country including well meaning people everywhere will help to beg Comrade Adams Oshiomole not to set Ogun state on fire.”