APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole
Oshiomhole’s efforts were, however, facing serious challenges in Imo and Delta states where his hands were being tied down by judicial actions.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja fixed Tuesday for determination on who between Senator Hope Uzodinma and Uche Nwosu should be the party’s governorship candidate in Imo State.
In Delta State, a Federal High Court sitting in Asaba asked the party to maintain the status quo pending the determination of a suit brought by the Olorogun Otega Emerhor-led faction of the party.
The national chairman, yesterday, met with stakeholders from Adamawa State, including Governor Jibrilla Bindow and Dr. Mahmood Halilu, a brother to First Lady, Aisha Buhari. Both men are contesting the Adamawa State governorship ticket.
A move to quietly resolve the situation in Imo State by President Muhammadu Buhari and the national leadership with the offer to Governor Rochas Okorocha to choose between his Senate ticket and the governorship ticket to his son-in-law, Nwosu, did not yield any success.
Court asks APC to maintain status quo in Delta
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, yesterday, ordered the NWC to maintain status quo, pending the determination of the suit brought before it by the Chief Cyril Ogodo-led faction of the party in the state.
The presiding judge, Justice Toyin Adegoke, adjourned the matter till November, 1 and 2, 2018.
The Chief Cyril Ogodo-led State Executive had filed a suit asking the court to restrain APC, Adams Oshiomhole and its agents from submitting the list of candidates from Prophet Jones Erue’s faction to INEC.
Adegoke in her ruling in the suit which, had the APC, Oshiomhole, INEC and Prophet Jones Erue as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents respectively, made the following orders that “this matter shall be given an accelerated hearing, owing to fact that it is a pre-election matter. All defendants are to take note of the tendencies of this suit.
Protests in Osun, Ogun
Some members of the APC, in Ifelodun/Odo-otin/Boripe Federal Constituency of Osun State, yesterday, protested against the alleged imposition of Mr. Olalekan Afolabi as the party’s candidate for the House of Representatives election.
The aggrieved APC members alleged that Governor Rauf Aregbesola imposed Afolabi on the party against the wish of the members, adding that there was no primary election before the emergence of Afolabi as the candidate of the party.
The protesters who moved round major streets of Ikirun, headquarters of Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state called on the NWC of the party to reverse the alleged imposition and allow the primary election to hold in the federal constituency.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, a former chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area, Mr. Adebisi Gbolagade said the choice of Afolabi as the party’s candidate would lead to failure for the APC in the election.
The chairman of the state chapter of the party, in Ogun State,Chief Derin Adebiyi, denied that his leadership hijacked the conduct of the legislative primaries.
Adebiyi said he was unaware of any report that indicted his exco, saying, the exercise was conducted by the election committee sent from Abuja by the NWC.
He spoke in response to the report of the election committee deployed by the NWC of the APC to conduct legislative primaries into both the National and State House of Assembly seats in Ogun State which indicted the state leadership of the party of bias in the discharge of its duties.
This indictment was contained in a report dated Tuesday, October 9, 2018, obtained by Vanguard and submitted to the National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, by a member of the election committee, Okey Nnonyelu. (Vanguard)