Amid accusations of bias and imposition of candidates levelled by some losers in the recently held All Progressives Congress National Assembly election primaries in Ondo State, a pressure group within the party has cautioned aggrieved contestants to display maturity and explore party mechanisms for seeking redress.
The group, Ondo Progressives Family (OPF) gave the advice in the aftermath of the recently concluded House of Representatives and Senate primaries, which some defeated contestants faulted and also took to the social media to disparage.
Specifically, the group, in a statement issued in Akure on Tuesday by its state chairman, Prince Oluwole Irawo, and secretary, Mrs. Mabel Ogunleye, took exception to what it described as false accusations of imposition of candidates levelled against Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the state APC leadership.
“These accusations against the governor and the Kolawole Babatunde-led Ondo APC are wholly puerile, false and incoherent for the fact that up until the eve of the primary elections, these contestants had been praising the governor and the state’s APC leaders to high heavens for their neutrality, transparency, and high-level preparations for the poll; only for them to do a 360-degree turn into hostilities, once they failed to win the contest.
“In the same vein, these are people who demanded vehemently that a consensus approach should be adopted from the outset, and once this was done and they were not favoured under such arrangement, they quickly raced to buy nomination forms.
“After purchasing the forms and standing in the primary poll, they failed abysmally to win at the ballot and now feel the next route to winning public sympathy is to wrongfully accuse Governor Aiyedatiwa and the state APC as the forces behind their inability to win,’ the group upbraided.
The OPF particularly condemned one of such contestants, “who is currently battling with series of local accusations bothering on illicit affairs with housewives”, urging the angry aspirant to “keep his peace and instead, work on his moral crisis, which apparently led to his rejection at the poll”.
Besides, the OPF noted that several commentators and independent observers across the country had attested to verifiable instances that Ondo’s APC primaries were free, fair and peaceful, to the extent that many of them were held in public primary and secondary schools with the children safely studying in their classrooms.
It particularly cited enthusing comments on the primaries by a former Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele, who noted that in the course of monitoring the poll in her Okitipupa local council area of the state, which held in some public schools, the children were in the classrooms studying unperturbed.
Akindele stated, “The process was peaceful, transparent, and consistent with the Party constitutional requirements.
”I want to specifically underscore the fact that elections in my community’s two wards (Okitipupa I & II) took place in schools.
“The students were in school and their teaching was not in any manner disrupted.”
Akindele added, “My commendation must first of all, be for the members of the party who not only turned out in their large numbers but also comported themselves in an orderly and responsible manner.
“I also commend the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) and security agencies for the professional conduct of the election.
“I must also commend the leadership of our great party, especially the President, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, GCFR, our Governor, the undisputed Leader of the APC in Ondo State, and the State Executive Committee, ably led by Honourable Babatunde Kolawole, for organising a transparent, free, fair, and credible primary election that gave every aspirant a genuine level-playing field.
“Elections are contests, and by their nature, not everyone can win at the same time.
“What truly defines a great party is how we manage the aftermath, which must be, with maturity, dignity, and unwavering respect for the leadership and structures of our party.”
Furthermore, the former lawmaker urged party members “to exercise restraint and avoid statements that can heat up the polity or cast shadows on this credible process”, adding, “Our strength lies in our unity”.
“I reaffirm my total confidence in the leadership of the APC at both state and national levels.
“I stand firmly by all party directives, and I call on all genuine party faithful across Ondo State to place the collective interest of our great party above personal ambitions.
“APC is not just a party, APC is a movement.
“A mighty mothership with the widest canopy, big enough to birth every dream and every legitimate ambition,” the former Speaker counselled.
