APC Chieftains Reject Indirect Primaries, Dare Amosun

The Chief Executive Officer of Heyden Petroleum Limited, Prince Dapo Abiodun and former Ogun State Deputy Governor, Gbenga Kaka, among others, at the weekend rejected the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to approved indirect method for selecting of candidates for the 2019 election.

While Abiodun described the approval of the indirect method as corruption-driven and self-serving by its promoters, Kaka blamed the APC State Executive Committees for the muddle-up of the updated membership register in an attempt to impose their stooges as executive members in all the wards across the state.

They condemned the adoption of the indirect primary method at separate for at the weekend, lamenting that the APC leadership upturned its earlier decision to use direct primary method without recourse to the party’s critical stakeholders nationwide.

The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had at its last meeting approved direct primary for nomination for the party’s tickets. However, the APC national secretariat directed states that wanted to use indirect primary to apply for approval from the NWC.

The governors had risen up in arms against this condition, pitting them against federal lawmakers who preferred direct method, which they felt would clip the wings of the states’ chief executives. At Wednesday’s meeting of the governors with the NWC, the case for indirect primary was strongly made again and the governors had their way.

In a statement by the Dapo Abiodun Campaign Organisation on Friday, the aspirant condemned berated the sudden departure from the already approved direct primaries by the state leadership of the party for choosing candidates into various elective offices.

He said it was laughable for Ogun APC “to have taken such a hasty decision, without the consent of the generality of the critical stakeholders across the three senatorial districts at a wee hour of the day to alter the unanimous adoption of the direct primaries to now come up with the indirect primaries in order to suit their selfish interests.

“Going back to other states of the federation, I wonder why there is an agitation or fear among some governors for the adoption of the direct primaries. In some parts of the federation, it is understandable that the direct method may be difficult to apply. In some northern states, there may be problems due to security challenges.

“In other parts where there is relative peace and calm, I do not see any reason governors, particularly those in offices for almost eight years and have made electoral promises to the people, should oppose the direct method for the primary election. I do not understand why they are jittery about the direct primary elections.

“If a governor is worried about direct primaries, how will he lead his party to win general election in such a state? If at intra-party level, he is worried that he should have control, this calls for concern. This should not be about control, but about inclusiveness. The governor himself was voted into the office by the people.

“It is the party members that woo others to vote for him at the general elections. The direct method eliminates the ability of the sitting governor to manipulate primary election results. It reduces the culture of vote buying vote, coercing or intimidating and inducing party members. Ultimately, it places premium on the peoples’ votes.”