The controversy generated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries in Ogun State continued on Saturday with Governor Ibikunle Amosun accusing the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, of falsehood and of attempting to help hijack the state government.
According to a statement by the Ogun government on Saturday, contrary to the position of the APC National Chairman, “the only gubernatorial primary held in the state was that of October 02, 2018, which produced Hon Adekunle Akinlade as the winner”.
The statement was in reaction to a press briefing by Mr Oshiomhole on Friday, during which he accused the Ogun governor of taking series of steps in a bid to impose his preferred candidates on the APC and contravening the party’s constitution.
Oshiomhole has also insisted that the authentic governorship primary conducted by the APC in Ogun produced Mr Dapo Abiodun and not Akinlade as the party’s governorship candidate.
The Ogun governor, however, faulted Oshiomhole’s position and the language he used to express the same.
“Governor Amosun notes the unsavoury language used against him by the garrulous party chairman, but he will not descend into the gutter to exchange words with him because where he comes from, there are “acceptable standards of conduct expected of people holding certain offices, a virtue he wishes Oshiomhole would exhibit”, a statement by the Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Mr Adedayo Adeneye, read.
The governor explained that the emergence of Akinlade was initially through a consensus arrangement as allowed by the party constitution but was nevertheless subjected to a primary election when some gubernatorial aspirants disagreed with the outcome of the consensus arrangement.
“This is, however, without prejudice to the sanctity of the consensus arrangement which Adams Oshiomhole hypocritically tries to demonise,” Governor Amosun added, faulting the APC chairman’s criticism of his plan for consensus candidates.
He argued that “Oshiomhole himself was elected National Chairman of the APC by consensus arrangement which witnessed all other contestants to the office being prevailed upon to step down for him (Oshiomhole)”.
Governor Amosun also accused Oshiomhole of double standards, saying, “The ground on which Oshiomhole disputes the gubernatorial primary in Ogun State is that the result was not announced by the State Electoral Committee from Abuja, therefore the governor resorted to self-help”.
“We wonder why Oshiomhole accepted the result of the primary election in Lagos State whose result was also not announced by the State Electoral Panel. Why will the same scenario be acceptable in Lagos State but regarded as self-help in Ogun State?” he added.
The Ogun governor called on Nigerians to note the actions of Oshiomhole, stressing that “as at today, November 03, which is 24 hours after the deadline for submission of names of candidates for the house of assembly, Oshiomhole has not given INEC party candidate form (cf001) to any of the 26 candidates who won the primaries for the ticket to contest for the Ogun State house of assembly”.
For those positions, Amosun said “the primary was conducted on October 07 by the State Electoral Committee headed by Col. Ali Ciroma. This is despite the fact that the State Chairman of the party had kept vigil at the national secretariat of the APC in the last two weeks to collect the forms”.
He added, “If Oshiomhole is denying the outcome of the gubernatorial primaries because the State Electoral Committee shied away from announcing the result, what is the reason for denying all the 26 candidates for the House of Assembly freely elected by members of the APC in Ogun State?”
Furthermore, the governor accused Oshiomhole of unilaterally replacing four of the nine winners of the primary election into the House of Representatives.
At Friday’s press briefing in the nation’s capital Abuja, Oshiomhole told reporters that the party had conducted direct primaries in Ogun State after Governor Amosun tried unsuccessfully to get members of the party to accept “consensus candidates”.
He said rather than comply with the decision of the National Executive Council of the APC, the governor attempted to coerce the party members to do his bidding and accept candidates he unilaterally picked.
