Aggrieved All Progressives Congress women in their hundreds on Monday hit the streets in Akure the Ondo State capital protesting the purported substitution by the party’s National Working Committee of the National Assembly candidates who emerged at the primary.
Blocking the Ilesa-Akure-Owo Road, they displayed placards with messages such as
“Say no to fake appeal committee”, “We reject the Abuja results”, “We stand by our vote, Say no to cheating”, “NWC: you can’t impose on us”, “APC national: do the right thing”, “let our vote count, no to mago-mago results.”
Others included: “Ondo State Is on Fire,” “Ondo State Says No to Abuja Result,” “No to Corner-Corner Appeal,” “Ondo State Women Stand with Governor Aiyedatiwa,” “We No Go Gree,” “Let Our Votes Count,” and “APC National, We No Go Gree,” among others.
The purported review which trended online on Monday had reportedly replaced eight candidates who emerged at the party’s primary and who were perceived loyalists of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, with their opponents.
According to the online report, which went viral on Monday morning, the party’s NWC substituted the names of the candidates following the review of appeals against their emergence.
The report added that the party’s NWC had forwarded the new list of the party’s National Assembly candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
According to the report, the review produced major changes in Ondo State, with the party replacing two of its three senatorial candidates and all six House of Representatives candidates affected by the appeals.
In the purported change, Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire (SAN) replaced Dr. Taiwo Fasoranti as the APC candidate for Ondo Central Senatorial District, while Senator Olajide Ipinsagba emerged in place of Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye for Ondo North Senatorial District. The Ondo South Senatorial ticket was unaffected by the review with Hon. Kekemeke as candidate.
For the House of Representatives, Hon. Donald K. Ojogo replaced Mr. Akingboye Leke for Ilaje/Ese Odo Federal Constituency, while Hon. Festus Olarewaju Akingbaso displaced Hon. Rasaq Obe in Idanre/Ifedore Federal Constituency.
Also, the NWC reportedly substituted Hon. Kayode Adejana with Hon. Dr. Oluwatimehin Adelegbe for Owo/Ose Federal Constituency and replaced Hon. Olumuyiwa Daramola with Hon. Okunjimi John Odimayo for Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency.
Besides, Dr. Abiola Makinde lost the APC ticket for Ondo East/Ondo West Federal Constituency to Hon. Dr. Michael Olajide Akintomide, while Oyerinmade Matthew was replaced by Hon. Festus Ayodele Adefiranye as the party’s candidate for Ile Oluji/Okeigbo/Odigbo Federal Constituency.
The substitutions make Ondo one of the states most affected by the APC’s post-primary appeal process, effectively overturning the outcomes of several constituency primaries conducted earlier by the party.
Addressing the protesters, the Commissioner for Women affairs and social development, Dr (Mrs) Seun Osamaye, said “the women of Ondo State, women who are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, have come out to express our displeasure with the fake list being circulated.
She said: “We consider it fake because it does not reflect the mandate of the people. It does not reflect the votes counted across the 203 wards of Ondo State. We know those we voted for. We know those we counted that won the elections.
“So why does the list being circulated online not reflect the people’s mandate? That is the question we have come to ask this afternoon. It is a peaceful protest. We say no to mago-mago appeal.
“We say no to fake appeal. We say no to corner-corner appeal. People’s votes should count. We voted massively for our candidates, and it should reflect in the list that has been pasted. But what we are seeing online does not reflect what we voted for, and that is why we have come today.
“We know President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a president for women. We know he is a man who listens, a man of fair judgment, integrity, fairness and justice. So what we are saying is: let the people’s votes matter.
“Let our votes count. We say no to mago-mago appeal and corner-corner appeal. We voted across the 203 wards, and what was pasted online does not reflect our mandate.
“That is why, as women of the APC in Ondo State, we have come out to express our concern that this injustice should not stand. It is against the spirit of fairness, transparency and voting. People’s votes are meant to matter and count.
Also speaking, the APC Women Leader in Ondo State, Princess Oluwayemisi Iji-Ayeola, lamented that “We are crying against one man dictating the fate of Ondo State. We women are crying against one man changing the future of Ondo State. That is why we are out here.
”Ordinarily, immediately after the election, the results should have been announced. But this time around, we have waited for almost a month for the results of our candidates. Then, on Friday, surprisingly, people who were not even part of the primary election, people who did not contest, had their names announced. How come?
“That brought agony and sympathy from the women of Ondo State. It is a slap on the party in Ondo State. It is a slap suggesting that we don’t know what we are doing and cannot control our own party in the state. It is also a slap on our leader, the Governor of Ondo State, by allowing a minister to dictate and pick candidates for the state.
“The next action is that we will go on a rampage. I promise you, Ondo State is going to be on fire if the results are not released. We are going to come out and show them that what happened back then will not repeat itself.”
Also, A youth leader in the party, Ojo Bright, warned that “Like the NADECO struggle, when the democratic process was about to be truncated in our country, some people rose to demand that democracy must not become one man’s show or one man’s business.
“Today, what you are seeing here is an end to democratic coup in Ondo State. The democratic coup is that the people of Ondo State, who are members of our great party, voted en masse during the direct primary, and the results reflected the will, the wishes and the mandate of the people from the field.
“All of a sudden, we are seeing rumours, speculations and some kind of hanky-panky that some names were shuffled, reshuffled and even replaced. By who? By one Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, our party’s National Chairman, who is from the northern extraction, imposing candidates on us in Ondo State.
“The truth is that the South-West is a peaceful region and a stronghold of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where he will get overwhelming support.
“We don’t know who our national party chairman is working for, whether he is working for the opposition, his brother Atiku Abubakar from the North, to defeat our candidate, the people’s president from the South.
“That is why we are asking: how did this democratic coup being perpetrated against our people come about? If they attempt to disrupt Nigeria’s peace by inciting chaos and crisis through our party in Ondo State, let it be on record that we, the people, will resist.
“Nobody has defeated the army of the people in history, and nobody can defeat our people in Ondo State. That is sacrosanct,” Ojo said.
Already, the party’s National headquarters has disowned what it described as a fake list circulating online.
