President Muhammadu Buhari has intervened in the crisis arising from the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State, in a bid to reconcile contending parties.
PREMIUM TIMES understands that there is pressure on the party’s leadership to seek a political solution, given the stalemate created by the rejection of the election appeals committee report, and the inability of the party to conduct a fresh election as recommended by the committee.
A party official told PREMIUM TIMES that all the parties involved had been summoned to Abuja for a meeting with the president on Thursday.
“The meeting is crucial and would involve the president,” the official said.
“You know the NWC has thrown out the appeal committee’s report saying it was corrupted, but now they want to get the aggrieved parties involved in reaching the final decision on who becomes the party’s candidate for the Ondo governorship election.
“They could not make any pronouncement because that would be unwise as aggrieved parties could decide to leave the party and that would place the party at a disadvantage.”
He said it was still difficult to ascertain if Rotimi Akeredolu, winner of the primary election, would be named as the candidate.
“It is difficult because the parties would have to agree so that there would be no further rancour after the meeting,” he said.
“The president has been brought in so as to help pacify those who would disagree with the leadership’s decision.”
The party’s publicity secretary in the state, Abayomi Adesanya, confirmed the report, saying the president and the party leadership were seeking ways to end the impasse so the party could move ahead to prepare for the election proper.
“Yes, it is true that the party leadership and the presidency are looking into it,” Mr. Adesanya said.
“It is to ensure that we deal with it as a family affair, it is a way to cover our leaking roof so we can unite to ensure victory at the governorship polls.”
Presidential spokespersons, Femi Adesina, and Garba Shehu, did not respond to calls seeking their comments on Wednesday.
Presidential Adviser on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, told PREMIUM TIMES he would need time to confirm the development and revert.
The NWC of the APC had been holding a series of meetings to reach a conclusion on the matter after the appeals committee led by Hellen Bendega, submitted a report, recommending the cancellation of the election of Mr. Akeredolu and ordering a rerun.
The report followed the consideration of appeals from three of the aspirants, Robert Ajayi Borroffice, Olusegun Abraham and Olusola Oke, who challenged the outcome of the election.
There were also three complaints from the Chairman of Ondo Central APC, Adegboyega Adedipe, his Ondo East counterpart, Akintunde Temitope, and Toyin Ajinde, a delegate.
The appeal committee said despite substantial compliance with rules during the primary, there were serious irregularities that could not be ignored.
The irregularities, according to the panel include the use of a delegates not approved for the primary and the voting of unofficial delegates at the exercise.
Most party leaders disagreed with the recommendations of the report, choosing to disregard it because it was no longer possible to hold fresh primary.
The Independent National Electoral Commission in Ondo State had stated that with the closure of party primaries for the election, parties could only explore the window of substitution of candidates if they had issues of their choice of candidates.
Resident Electoral Commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje, while briefing journalists on Tuesday in preparations for the election, said 30 political parties had indicated interest in participating in the November 26 governorship election.
He however would not name the candidates of the parties, saying the names would be published in October in line with INEC’s timetable.
- Premium Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment