The Ogun state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said it will adopt consensus, direct and indirect primaries to choose its chairmanship and councillorship candidates for the forthcoming local elections in the state.
The Publicity Secretary, State Caretaker Committee of the party, Tunde Oladunjoye, made this known in a chat with newsmen, shortly after the party’s stakeholders meeting, held at the weekend inside the Presidential Lodge, Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.
The party’s spokesperson explained that the party, having agreed on consensus names with party leaders for positions in some local governments, would then activate either the direct or indirect primaries for other local governments that couldn’t arrive at an agreement for a consensus candidate.
Oladunjoye, while saying the stakeholders meeting was to ensure that none of the contestants in the LG elections spend money unnecessarily, also said the party had been able to come up with solutions to multiple candidates in some local governments.
He added that the ruling party would ensure that the local government elections is free and fair, noting that the party’s primaries wouldn’t be held in secret like it was done in the past.
“We are all in Ogun State, we know what happened with “breaking news” at this particular venue when the immediate past administration made arrangement whereby all the names of 236 councillors and 20 local government chairmen were just held in a file, including even other elective officers at the state and national level.
“But to the glory of God, we are not having that kind of dispensation in Ogun State now, we have a governor that has chosen to consult the people and the leaders, and the primaries we are going to have will not be conducted in one corner of the house.
“The constitution of the party states that such primaries for local government must be conducted at the local government headquarters and those for the ward must be conducted at the meeting venue of the ward,” Oladunjoye stated.
He, however, disclosed that the process of reaching consensus on the candidates had already started, saying lists of agreed candidates would be made available during the week.
“The leaders have assured the governor that the process of reaching consensus is ongoing, and by Wednesday, they will come back with the list of agreed candidates in the local government. We expect that some local governments will come back with one candidate, while those who have more than two or three will go for direct primaries,” the APC Publicity Secretary submitted.
