Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
As Ogun State is preparing for the local government poll, some aggrieved members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state have appealed to the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, to intervene and prevent leaders from imposing chairmanship and councillorship candidates on the party.
The party faithful, who expressed serious concerns over what they described as “the gale of imposition of candidates within the APC” ahead of the July 24 local government elections in the state, said that the governor as the overall leader of the party, must rise to the occasion and rescue it from the grip of self-serving individuals masquerading as leaders.
The appeal was contained in a statement signed on behalf of the concerned APC members, on Sunday, by the party Youth Leader in Ikenne Local Government Area, Sonuga Ramoni.
The party members alleged that the procedure adopted by some party leaders to choose chairmanship and councillorship candidates in Ikenne Local Government Area and several other local governments in the state was fraught with widespread irregularities.
They warned that failure to redress the injustice meted out to many genuine and committed aspirants within Ogun APC may spell doom for the ruling party in the nearest future.
They noted that though not all aspirants can emerge as party candidates for elections, the APC in the state would have been saved from needless strife and agitation, if popular will of majority of party members and leaders were allowed to prevail in the selection process.
“We need to let the whole world know that the procedures adopted by some leaders of the party in many wards and local government areas grossly fell short of the directive by the governor for candidates to emerge either through consensus or primaries.
“Rather than abide by the directive of the governor in the overall interest of APC members, some desperate party leaders have been imposing candidates to the detriment of our great party. This development has inevitably caused agitations and protests across board.
“We are, therefore, concerned that if the agitations occasioned by the undemocratic selection of chairmanship and councillorship candidates are not looked into, it may spell doom for our party. Certainly, what we abhor is disintegration of the party.
“Our amiable governor should please intervene and address the widespread irregularities in the primaries.
“We want Governor Dapo Abiodun and top party leaders to allow democracy to play its role. They should ensure that names of chairmanship and councillorship candidates as recently announced by the leaders of wards in the just concluded primaries in their various wards to be submitted by the party and not those who lost out the primaries, but are now being smuggled through the backdoor because they know one party leader or the other. Except justice is served on this matter, this great injustice may lead to avoidable crisis in the party and the upcoming local government election”. The statement submitted.