Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday, reversed its earlier decision to adopt consensus mode of primary and adopted indirect primary, to elect candidates of the party ahead of the 2019 poll.
The position of the party was contained in a communiqué issued at the end the expanded executive committee meeting of the party, held MTR Hall, Abeokuta, Ogun APC.
According to the communiqué signed by the State Chairman of the party, Derin Adebiyi, the decision to adopt indirect primary was taken after 109 out of 111 members at the meeting, voted in favour of the decision.
This, the communiqué added, followed exhaustive deliberations, with contributions from Saheed Ariori, Samsudeen Olajide Salau and Dele Ogunsiji, from Ogun Central, Ogun East and Ogun West respectively.
Speaking earlier, Adebiyi informed those at the meeting, including the deputy governor, Yetunde Onanuga, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Suraj Ishola Adekunbi, some members of the House, National Financial Secretary of APC, Tajudeen Bello, among others, disclosed the meeting was to deliberate on the way forward since direct primary, as directed by the National Executive Council (NEC) of APC was no longer feasible in the state, few days to the commencement of the exercise.
He explained that despite the fact that the presidential primary of APC will commence on September 25, through direct primary system, the state chapter of the party was yet to obtain updated membership register, which according to him, remained a reliable means of identification of genuine party members and extensive way for crowd control, public order and safety.
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Adebiyi, who alleged that there was existence of fake APC membership cards, misleading and crooked membership register in circulation as well as under-the-table membership registration exercise going on across Ogun State, noted further that prerequisites for the conduct of credible, successful and violence free primary elections were absent in the state.
“Only five days to the primary elections, the updated membership register from across the wards of the state has not been availed the state chapter by the national headquarters.
“The prevailing confusion has created opportunity for members of the opposition, unscrupulous elements and strange bedfellows to infiltrate the rank and file of genuine party members in the state. We genuinely fear that a significant proportion of our dedicated members stand the sure risk of being disenfranchised in the current imbroglio, uncertainty and confusion”. Adebiyi stated.