Senate primaries: Members revolt against imposition across Oyo North

Attempts by some party leaders to impose Hannah Ogunesan as Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Oyo North Senatorial District is hitting the wall across the local government councils in the zone.

Instant reports from the local council areas report a revolt by party members who are insisting on voting for their choice candidate in the primaries.

Sources in Ogbomosho stated that at a meeting held in Ogbomosho North Local Government this morning, some party leaders leaders claimed that the party leaders had chosen Hannah Ogunesan as candidate and members should go to the election to affirm the choice..

The sources said speaker after speaker who spoke after them rejected the claim,asking the leaders to produce the letter communicating the decision of the state chapter of the party to the local government.

When it became apparent that the leaders could not produce the letter,the meeting resolved that members should go out at 3pm to vote for the candidate of their choice.

In Iseyin Local Government , the leaders reportedly claimed yesterday that the council had been instructed by the state executive to produce Hannah Ogunesan as winner of the election. They proposed that the votes in the council should be shared among the aspirants with the highest vote going to Ogunesan. The suggestion was vehemently resisted by the members at the stakeholders meeting.

The meeting was adjourned to a.m. today when the situation became uncontrollable.The meeting was again shifted to 12noon when overnight pressures to impose Ogunesan was resisted by members.

At the rescheduled meeting at 1pm,majority of the members again resisted the suggestion that Ogunesan should be alloted majority votes ahead of the two other contestants.

After more than one hour of stalemate,the leaders conceded that members should go to their respective wards to vote for candidates of their choice.

However,they imposed a provision that opened new concerns in the party.

The result sheets of the exercise should be signed only by the agents of the candidates. No security agent or representative of INEC should be allowed to sign the result sheets.

Finally,nobody should take photographs or video record the voting process.

The conditions have sharply divided members many of who declared that they were against the provisions of the electoral Act particularly the monitoring role of INEC and security agencies.

In Kajola Local Government, the two leaders, two prominent leaders reportedly claimed the party had instructed them to return Ogunesan as winner of the primaries, a position majority of party members rejected.

As at press time,the stakeholders particularly the youths are institing on direct primaries instead of the allotment of votes to the candidates by the elders of the party.

The same scenario is playing out in Olorunsogo Local Government where two of the leaders of the party, proposed the allotment of votes to the candidates. Many stakeholders in the council objected and the meeting adjourned to 2pm for a resolution of the stalemate.

A commentator noted that the APC in Oyo North is exposing itself to a revolt if care is not taken and the party begins to respect the provisions of the electoral act and the directives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the conduct of direct primaries where consensus fails to produce the party’s candidate.