Kick against indirect primary for constituency by-election

Members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, yesterday, protested against the adoption of an indirect primary mode for the Akoko South East/South West Federal Constituency by-election.

The party leaders mobilised aggrieved members from the constituency to protest at the state APC secretariat, accusing the party leadership at the state and national levels of creating a new delegates’ list to manipulate the forthcoming election.

An APC chieftain from Ifira Ward III in Akoko South East Local Council, Olakunle Oyegoke, while addressing journalists, said that the election did not hold in the constituency, saying the candidacy of Adefarati is being challenged in court.

Another chieftain from Akoko South West, Alhaji Alonge Abubakar, said they mobilised themselves from the constituency to protest the illegality, saying they had been monitoring the activities at the party secretariat since Tuesday.

“We have contacted the national secretariat but the leaders claimed ignorance of the development in the constituency. We think all these things are illegal and a negation of the process,” he said.

The APC members insisted that the party should resort to the previous processes, warning that any new arrangement by the party leadership for the election is illegal.

“We are saying that there were processes that had been completed earlier, delegates had been selected, even a case in court challenging the delegates’ selection then.

“So, it is prejudicial for them to now say there should be a new delegate when there is a case in court. The delegates’ list that had been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be used for the election,” they said.