Sharp Division In Osun APC Over Alleged Attempt By Leadership To Manipulate Party Primary

- As coalition of governorship aspirants accuse State Government, party state NWC of plot to manipulate primary

Posted by Innocent Imoh
                                                             
Sharp division has crept into the fold of Osun State All Progressives Congress (APC) over alleged attempt by the leadership of the party to manipulate process for the conduct of party primary election.

The State Chairman of the party, Gboyega Famodun, State Secretary of the party, Honourable Rasak Salinsile and one Honourable Segun Olanibi were allegedly fingered in the plot to manipulate the proposed primary election for the selection of the flag bearer of the party in the September 22nd, 2018 gubernatorial election.

According to a statement issued by coalition of governorship aspirants in the state and signed by their Spokesperson, Alhaji Kelani Abdulazeez, copy of which was made available to INDEPENDENT in Osogbo, the aspirants noted that they had uncovered the desperate bid of the affected people to force the party National Secretariat to resort to the unpopular direct primary process instead of indirect primary.

Abdulazeez noted further that the plan to manipulate the proposed primary election was hatched by only three members of the state working committee without regard to the others.

The aspirants disclosed that out of the 26 state officers which consisted of 16 principal officers or state working committee members, three of them namely Prince Gboyega Famodun, State Chairman, Hon Razak Salinsile, State Secretary and Hon Segun Olanibi, had decided to side-line their colleagues in the executive committee while going ahead with the devilish plan to mortgage the overall interest of the party members across the state for their personal selfish gains.

According to the statement, “Their plan, which was in connivance with some members of the cabinet of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, is believed to have the blessing of the Governor himself.

“For some weeks now, there have been so much agitation from some members of Ogbeni’s cabinet and his social media handlers for the adoption of Option A4 or Direct primary for the selection of Osun APC flag bearer in the primary election earlier scheduled for Saturday July 7th.

“They resorted to this unpopular move after several paid opinion polls organized for them shows that against their wish, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, the Secretary to the State Government, and one of the almost 30 contestants will win any delegate election hands down.

“To compound their worries was their finding that even if direct primary was organized in a free, fair, transparent and credible process, Alhaji Adeoti will garner nothing less than 70% of the votes.

“Faced with this stark reality, the three musketeers (Famodun, Salinsile and Olanibi) went to work by evolving ways of manipulating the membership register of the party across the thirty local governments and Area office.”

The statement alleged further that the group resorted to removal of names of several registered party members from the 2014 membership register, insertion of several fake names into the register, printing of APC membership slips from Lagos, etc.

It also stated that in 2014 during the registration of members into the newly formed APC, the membership slips distributed in all South West states were printed in Lagos. Even at a stage when membership slips were in short circulation in Osun, some of those customized for Lagos state were brought in to make up for the shortfall.

The statement further alleged that another plan hatched by the Famodun-led political executive was the printing of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) which they intend to use to mobilise for the main election on September 22nd to ensure victory for the unpopular candidate they wanted to foist on the party.

It reads further “To ensure the maximum use of the membership slips being printed, part of their plan is to import several people from Lagos and Oyo state and hand over the slips to them for use during the direct primary.

“They also plan to involve 22 staff of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in their ill-conceived plan the list of which they have used their supposedly trusted contacts in the commission to compile.

“The 22 INEC personnel are expected to work with the team to be sent from the APC National Secretariat while staffs of Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) will serve as Ad-hoc staff.

“To give full proof backing to the plan, the Famodun led musketeers are also planning to mobilize all council chairmen and councillors for use in harassing and intimidating hapless party members into doing their bidding by force.

“To ensure this is achieved, threats of forceful removal are being passed to these councillors and chairmen on daily basis. Money and violence are not left out of these plans of theirs and this was the reason for the confidence they have been exhibiting in their ability to succeed with their plan at all cost.

The recent decision of the newly constituted National Working Committee (NWC) under the headship of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to stick to the widely successful practice of delegates’ primary at its maiden meeting on Wednesday came to them as a jolt and it was a rude shock they are yet to recover from.

“They backed out of their plan to organize a public demonstration to show their discontent and disapproval for the decision when they heard about the plans of the majority party members that are pleased with the decision to confront them”.

But when contacted, the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi, denied the report saying it is not true, adding that it is a figment of imagination of the story tellers.

Oyatomi said that primary election cannot in any way be manipulated, saying that how is it possible to manipulate delegates of about 5,625, stressing that the party leadership has assured stakeholders and members that it will carry out a more transparent and fair party primary that all eyes would see.

He said party primary election is a serious exercise and party is unaware of the fact that it is litmus test for the party to win the next gubernatorial election come September 22nd 2018.

He said further that the exercise would be carried out by national officers who are strategic and expert in it and that the party cannot joke with it.
Oyatomi said that such report should be completely discarded and ignored in the interest of the party.

Source: independent.ng