Despite the indefinite postponement of governorship primaries scheduled to be held Tuesday by Ogun state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) due to sporadic gunshots which disrupted the meeting of electoral committee with the governorship aspirants in Abeokuta late Monday, some members of party still went ahead with unauthorized poll.
BusinessDay gathered that some party members and chieftains who are loyal to Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s caucus went ahead to conduct an unauthorized direct primaries in some local government areas of the state, including Abeokuta North and South, Sagamu, Odogbolu, Ado/Odo-Ota, Obafemi-Owode, Odeda, among othersz where governor’s anointed candidate, Adekunle Akinlade was declared winner.
Recall that six governorship aspirants, including Bimbo Ashiru, Dapo Abiodun, Gbenga Kaka, Jimi Lawal, Abayomi Hunye and Adekunle Akinlade had earlier obtained nomination forms for which the national secretariat had appointed eight-man electoral committee chaired by Muhammad Indabawa to screen and conduct primary poll for all aspirants.
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But, the seemingly supremacy battle between Governor Amosun and his APC caucus as well as Olusegun Osoba, the former governor and chieftain of APC and his caucus, to install governorship candidate that later flies APC flag in the 2019 general elections, has necessitated sudden postponements of the primaries and sporadic gunshots that prevented the electoral committee from conducting the primaries on Sunday and Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the deputy speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Kunle Oluomo, reportedly escaped death by the whiskers on Tuesday morning when tens of armed gang suspected to be political thugs overran his Constituency office in Ifo, demanding his whereabouts.
The suspected political thugs who were furious for not knowing his whereabouts after thorough ransacking of the Office located near Ifo market along Lagos – Abeokuta road, vandalised the window panes of campaign office, items and four buses that usually convey school kids to and fro schools within Ifo local council.
BusinessDay gathered that as of 4pm, tension still rent the air in Ifo town and despite the heavy security presence of combined armed policemen and soldiers, the hoodlums were still sighted keeping vigil and still looking for the runaway lawmaker who represented Ifo Constituency I.
While speaking with the lawmaker on phone, he confirmed the attack on his office and four buses to journalists, saying he had since been taken by the Police to the Sango Divisional Police Headquarters along with the vandalised buses.
But, the Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said he was not aware of the incident and attack and promised to get back to journalists upon enquiry which he never did as of the time of filing in this report on Tuesday. RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
