The crisis in the All Progressives Congress over its primaries may worsen in a matter of days as there are strong indications that the Ogun State Gove
The crisis in the All Progressives Congress over its primaries may worsen in a matter of days as there are strong indications that the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, is set to defect to the Democratic Peoples Party. Investigations revealed that Amosun had already positioned his close allies and top government officials in the state in the DPP to contest against the candidates of the ruling party. The officials and aides would eventually be unveiled as the candidates of the DPP in the guise of consensus on or before December.
A reliable APC source, who claimed to be fully involved in the governor’s plans, said that the officials would move ahead of him before Amosun would eventually join them. The source added, “The plan is that he may not leave now, but he (Amosun) will leave. He already has candidates for the three senatorial zones and nine House of Representatives seats in the DPP.”
The officials and aides are to be substituted with the consensus candidates on or before the December 1 deadline for withdrawal/final substitution of candidates. Some of the identified candidates, who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that they were on their way to the DPP on the instruction of the embattled governor.
Amosun has alleged that the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, colluded with some persons he described as members of the ‘Lagos cabal’ to manipulate the primaries, especially that of the governorship, in the state. The APC has submitted the name of an oil magnate, Dapo Abiodun, as its governorship candidate to the Independent National Electoral Commission to the surprise of Amosun, who had consistently maintained that a member of the House of Representatives, Adekunle Akinlade, would succeed him as the state governor.
A top source in the state APC alleged that the National Working Committee of the party changed the names of the winners of the primaries” in the state when the list got to Abuja.
“It wasn’t that the primaries were not held as being widely reported. The NWC said the primaries would hold on Monday, but the officials did not even show up in Abeokuta that day. It later changed it to Tuesday and the state government declared Tuesday as a public holiday,” said the source while lamenting the current state of the crisis.
“On Tuesday, eight officials came from Abuja. Of course, you know it was impossible for the eight to cover the 236 wards in the state. Winners were announced after the primaries, but when the names of the candidates were announced in Abuja, they were different from the names that emerged from the primaries, including that of Abiodun. Don’t forget what happened also in Lagos; when the NWC delegation to the state, initially, said election did not hold in the state governorship primary. Abuja made a U-turn later that day to say election held and that (Jide) Sanwo-olu has won the election. I believe the same set of people is behind the Ogun crisis.”
Continuing the source said, “In Abeokuta, it will be difficult for any candidate to defeat Amosun’s candidate because of what he has done in transforming the state capital. You are aware that that is where the votes are. One just hopes they can resolve this impasse quickly. Otherwise, APC may eventually lose Ogun State to another party,” he said.
Punch
