By Paul Joseph
The crisis within the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) intensified on Tuesday as aggrieved party members staged a protest in Akure, the state capital, rejecting the party’s revised list of senatorial and House of Representatives candidates.
The protesters marched through major roads in Akure carrying placards with inscriptions including, “Ondo State Is on Fire,” “Ondo State Says No to Abuja Result,” “No to Corner-Corner Appeal,” “We No Go Gree,” and “Let Our Votes Count.”
The aggrieved party loyalists demanded the release of what they described as the authentic results of the direct primary elections conducted across the state.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the Ondo State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Seun Osamaye, described the revised list being circulated as fake, insisting that it did not reflect the outcome of the direct primaries conducted in the state’s 203 wards.
“We, the women of Ondo State who are members of the APC, have come out to express our displeasure with the fake list being circulated. We consider it fake because it does not reflect the mandate of the people,” she said.
Osamaye maintained that party members knew those who emerged from the direct primaries and questioned why the names on the revised list differed from those voted for during the exercise.
She also appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene, expressing confidence in his commitment to fairness, justice and democratic principles.
Also speaking, a youth leader in the party, Bright Ojo, described the revised list as a “democratic coup” against APC members in Ondo State.
“What you are seeing is a protest against a democratic coup in Ondo State. The people voted en masse during the direct primary, and the results reflected the will and mandate of the people from the field,” Ojo said.
He alleged that the revised list contained the names of aspirants who lost the primaries and questioned the role of the party’s national leadership in the changes.
The protest came shortly after the APC National Working Committee (NWC) reportedly approved major changes to the party’s list of candidates following appeals arising from the primary elections.
Under the revised list, incumbent Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire (SAN) emerged as the party’s candidate for Ondo Central, while incumbent Senator Olajide Ipinsagba secured the ticket for Ondo North. Hon. Isaacs Kekemeke emerged as the party’s candidate for Ondo South.
For the House of Representatives, Donald Ojogo, Festus Akingbaso, Oluwatimehin Adelegbe, Okunjimi Odimayo, Michael Ajilo and Festus Adefiranye emerged as the APC candidates for the six affected federal constituencies.
The revised list, which party stakeholders had awaited since the conclusion of the primaries, was expected to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the exercise. However, Tuesday’s protest indicates that the controversy over the outcome of the primaries remains unresolved.
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