• Says NASS candidates’ list intervention timely
• ALGON appeals to APC leadership over Ondo primaries’ outcomes
• Urges unity, seeks review of candidates’ list

Elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, under the aegis of the PBAT Mandate Elders Forum, have commended the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) for its intervention in resolving the contentious outcomes of the primary election.

Chairman of the Forum, Demola Ijabiyi, while speaking at a media briefing in Akure, Ondo State capital, yesterday, said that the NWC’s decision to review and approve candidates for the upcoming elections had reaffirmed the party’s commitment to internal democracy.

In another development, the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Ondo State chapter, has called on the leadership of the APC to uphold the outcome of the primary elections conducted in the state.

The council chairmen expressed concern that the names of those who purportedly emerged as winners in the primaries had not been submitted as candidates for National Assembly positions.

The ALGON Chairman and Chairman of Akure South Local Council, Gbenga Fasua, appealed yesterday during a media briefing held in Akure.

Fasua emphasised that the chairmen’s position was not a protest against the party’s leadership but rather an appeal to preserve the credibility of the APC’s internal democratic processes.

Ijabiyi, who maintained that the decision of the NWC had helped in averting a potential electoral disaster for the ruling party in the state in 2027, stressed that there had been genuine apprehension before the intervention that the party risked losing some National Assembly seats through protest votes and internal disaffection, with signs of division and apathy increasingly evident across the state.

He, therefore, called on all other leaders, elected officials, aspirants and stakeholders to close ranks, eschew divisive politics, and work together in the overall interest of the party and the people of Ondo State.

Ijabiyi said that the outcome of the primaries had raised serious concerns among party members, with several serving legislators, despite their established political structures and impressive records of performance, being credited with figures that many considered difficult to reconcile with the realities on the ground.