Like Osun West, Ijesa APC leaders rejects direct primary election Since the announcement of direct primary as the mode to be adopted...
Like Osun West, Ijesa APC leaders rejects direct primary election
Since the announcement of direct primary as the mode to be adopted to choose a candidate among the legion of aspirants of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State by the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomole, the party has been neck deep in crisis, mostly of rejection.
The Ijesa zonal leadership of the party are not left in this crisis rocking the party, which if care is not taken may decimate and consume the party before the September 22, 2018 Governorship election.
Rising from their meeting held at Iloko Ijesa on Tuesday, July 17, 2018 like many other zones of the party, they addressed the press and issued a Communiqué signed by all the fifty-three (53) leaders that cut across Ijesa North and South Federal Constituencies present rejecting direct primary proposed by the party national chairman
It reads, “We reject Direct Primary election because it negates our 2014 congress guidelines which stipulates that delegate system would determine our choice of candidate to flag the banner of our party at the Local, State and Federal elections.
“The National Working Committee of our party should as a matter of fact follow the constitution the APC, especially the provisions of Article 20 (111).
“If the National Working Committee wants to change the system of primaries in Osun, they must send the new system and modalities to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of APC for ratification within 7 days before the date of the primaries in tandem with the Electoral Act.
“The meeting noted that it has been the convention of the party to use delegate system Looking at the primary elections held in Edo, Ondo, Anambra, and Ekiti States respectively, delegates systems were used, why the change in Osun?
“The security challenges that would be posed by direct primary would further polarize the party and affect its fortunes in the general elections. Do we have the wherewithal to surmount security challenge that may be posed?
“Direct primary is subjective to easy manipulation as non-members of the party would be used to avert the success of genuine members. Thus, it amounts to a complete hijack of the party by outsiders while those that had labored, toiled day and night for the party would be shut out.
“Direct primary has been designed to truncate genuine agitation for power rotation/shift which is germane in Osun politics of today. It portrays our party as a party that lacks justice, fairness and equity. For fairness, power should shift to Osun West.
“For any election voters register is a sine qua non as it is today, there is no precise membership register of members.
“Currently, the direct primary is being undermined, as one of the aspirants’ God father’s company is responsible for printing of party registers and membership cards in hundreds of thousands to edge out popular aspirant
“We cannot trust the umpire as an unbiased one as their actions has been tilted towards the success of a particular candidate”, they concluded.
Meanwhile, APC Osun West at their emergency meeting has decided to boycott the governorship primaries of the party slated for Thursday, July 19, 2018. The meeting directed all their aspirants from the zone not to participate in the direct primary election being proposed by the party.
The congress also dared anybody to venture into the zone for the purpose of the primaries.
Political pundits spoken to by Spear Gists in Osogbo averred that implosion within the ruling party is inevitable as it is no longer at ease, the centre cannot hold.
COMMENTS