Ondo APC defies national body, adopts indirect primary

Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has adopted
the indirect modality for the party's forthcoming primary election.

The decision of the party was ratified on Wednesday during an
emergency meeting of the party's State Working Committee (SWC) held at
the secretariat of the party in Akure, the state capital.

After the closed door meeting which lasted for more than two hours,
the motion for the adoption of indirect primary was moved by the
Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Bamidele
Oleyelogun and was seconded by the Chairman, Owo Local Government,
Stephen Ogunleye.

Addressing newsmen after the closed-door meeting presided over by the
Governor of the state, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the senator representing
Ondo Central, Tayo Alasoadura maintained that the decision of the
state chapter of the party to differ with the national body was as a
result of the crisis that might trail the direct method.

He noted that new members from other political parties have since
joined the party, hence the register is not fully updated.

"Our decision to go with indirect primary is in conformity with the
party's constitution which allows for direct and indirect primary.

"We now have new members in the party whose names are not in the
party's register, so going on with the direct primary in the state
will certainly cause crisis during the process."

Also, the member representing Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo/Odigbo federal
constituency in the house of representatives, Mayowa Akinfolarin
stated that the direct primary is an invitation to anarchy as well as
a way of supporting corruption as some member of the party in the
state are entirely new to the process.

The meeting which was attended by members who are part of the SWC was
ignored by the Senator representing Ondo North Senatorial District
Area of the state, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice as well the Akure North/Akure
South house of representatives member, Afe Olowokere and the member
representing Akoko South West/Akoko South East, Babatunde Kolawole.

It would be recalled that the state governor, Akeredolu had been
locked in a running battle with some top members of the party who have
been insisting that the direct primary modality announced by the
national body of the APC should be employed in the state.