The leaders of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State have been asked to strictly follow due process in picking the party’s senatorial candidates for the 2027 general election.
AbdulGafar Akintayo Amere, a Senatorial aspirant from Osun West Senatorial District made the call during a meeting of APC leaders across the senatorial district in Iwo on Thursday.
Amere, who represented the Iwo/Ayedire/Ọla-Oluwa Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019, was not happy with alleged attempts to impose a candidate without following the appropriate democratic procedures.
He said party leaders told aspirants that only one nomination form would be bought for a consensus candidate. However, the decision was later rescinded and all aspirants were directed to obtain nomination forms after consultation with the party secretary and other stakeholders of the party.
“We were called to the meeting and requested to give our opinions on the candidate purportedly selected by the leaders. I told them it was an unfair process. At first they insisted that only one form would be obtained for the preferred candidate but later contacted us and told everyone to buy forms. Before we went ahead, we checked with the party secretary and other leaders about this directive.
He maintained that the APC’s National Working Committee, NWC, had already directed that all senatorial aspirants should participate in the primary election scheduled for Monday and that there was no provision for a consensus arrangement.
Yesterday, the national leadership of our party reiterated that all senatorial candidates must pass through the primary election. There is no such thing as a consensus candidate. “We shall abide by the decision of the National Working Committee, which is supreme to any decision taken at the state level or elsewhere,” he added.
He also observed that similar situations were said to be playing out in other senatorial districts in the state and he appealed to other aspirants to resist any attempt to deny them a level playing ground.
Speaking also at the meeting, another aspirant, Peter Taiwo, said the meeting was called together by APC leaders in Osun West Senatorial District to discuss the adoption of a preferred candidate.
He said: “Many of the aspirants rejected the proposal, insisting that the Electoral Act and party guidelines require the consent of all contestants before a consensus candidate could emerge.
“We told the leaders that we are not happy with the arrangement. All candidates must freely consent to be consensus nominees by law. “Any party shall have a primary election if any contestant objects.”
He said that as most of the aspirants were against the decision of the leaders, preparations have already started for the direct primary election slated for Monday, following the directive of the party’s National Working Committee.
