Armed political thugs, on Tuesday, disrupted the primary election organised to elect the chairmanship candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Yewa South Local Government Area in the November 16 election.
The exercise, held at the Governor’s Lodge, Ilaro, was marred by violence after a set of thugs supporting one of the chairmanship aspirants insisted that their candidate must be declared winner.
The unruly action was said to have made many leaders of the party in attendance, such as the state Secretary, Aderibigbe Tella; former secretary, Ayo Olubori; a member of the House of Representatives, Isiaq Akinlade, among others, to stage a walkout.
A source who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said the primary had proceeded without any hiccups until the committee announced that it had shortlisted three names which would be sent to the governor through the party, out of which one would be picked as the chairmanship candidate.
The source said, “The instruction is that where the party could not get a consensus, the primary should be held for the aspirants while two or three adjudged to be the best should be sent through the party to the governor.
“We had about 14 chairmanship aspirants, some stepped down and six went in for the primary and, in the end, the committee led by Yinka Akintomide announced Abraham Ogunsola, Julianah Akintayo and Muideen Akintande as the shortlisted aspirants to be sent by the party, out of which one of them would be picked as the chairmanship candidate.
“This, however, did not go down well with the supporters and thugs brought by one of the chairmanship aspirants as they insisted their candidate should be declared the winner, whereas this is against the party’s directive.
“The party leaders like Prince Aderibigbe Tella, the state secretary, Ayo Olubori, former state secretary of the party, Isiaq Akinlade, a member of House of Representatives, among other notable leaders had to walk out because they won’t be part of whatever is not in tune with the stand of the party.
“We sincerely hope and pray that the governor will look at this development and ensure that Yewa South is given to someone who has all the capability and love of the people to transform the local government.”
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Akintomide debunked the report of a thug invasion of the venue when contacted.
Speaking on telephone with The PUNCH on Wednesday, he said “There was nothing like thug invasion or disruption of the exercise.
“Yes, we had arguments, as is customary in such political events, but the truth is that we completed the process, with the aspirants finishing first, second, and third.
“The rest is left for the party to decide. The report that anyone walked out is equally not true,” he said.