Fresh Crisis As Ondo APC Members Protest Revised Candidates List

The crisis rocking the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), took a fresh turn on Tuesday as aggrieved party members staged a protest in Akure, the state capital.

Naija News reports that the protesters, who took to major roads, carrying placards with various inscriptions, marched through the state capital to register their grievances.

The protest comes after the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC reversed the outcomes of several Senate and House of Representatives primaries across constituencies in Ondo State, stripping eight candidates of their tickets and handing them to new nominees.

The NWC reviewed reports from its Primary Election Appeal Committees and approved a new list of candidates in line with the Electoral Act and guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Loyalists of the affected aspirants, however, rejected the adjustments and demanded the release of what they described as the authentic results of the direct primary elections conducted across the state.

Some of the placards read: “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.”

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the Ondo State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Seun Osamaye, described the list in circulation as fake, insisting that it did not reflect the outcome of the direct primaries conducted in the state’s 203 wards.

She said, “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.”

Osamaye said 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 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,” he said.

Ojo 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.