Fresh crisis is brewing in the Oyo State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) over the mode of primary election to be adopted for selecting the party’s candidates ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The disagreement centres on allegations of an attempt to impose candidates or adopt a consensus arrangement without adequate consultation with aspirants and the state executive, a development that some members say could further deepen divisions within the party.
The latest controversy comes barely 72 hours before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deadline for political parties to submit the names of their candidates for elective positions.
Details of the disagreement were contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the ADC Oyo State Publicity Secretary, Comrade Adedapo Ademola, on behalf of the state executive.
According to the statement, the party’s national leadership had earlier released guidelines for the screening of aspirants and conduct of primary elections ahead of the 2019 elections.
Ademola said the guidelines, signed by the party’s National Coordinator for Electoral Matters and INEC Liaison, Chief Anayo Arinze, gave the state some discretion in determining the mode of primary election, provided the process would enhance the party’s chances at the polls.
He, however, alleged that some national officers, working with individuals within the state, had sidelined the state leadership in the constitution of the seven-member State Primary Election Local Organising Committee.
The state PRO claimed that members of the state executive were selected or co-opted into the committee without adequate consultation with the state chairman.
He further alleged that the committee had been operating in Oyo State without properly carrying the state party leadership along.
Ademola described the development as unhealthy for the unity of the party, particularly at a time when the ADC was expected to be consolidating its various political blocs ahead of the elections.
The statement also cited the party’s guidelines, which it said provided for a pre-election meeting involving aspirants to determine the electoral system to be adopted.
According to the state executive, the provision makes consultation with aspirants and stakeholders necessary before a final decision is taken on the mode of primary.
“We hereby urge those concerned to consider the statement of the greatest President of America of all time, Abraham Lincoln, when he said: ‘I shall do more whenever I believe what I am doing helps the course. I shall do less whenever I believe what I am doing hurts the course,’” the statement quoted Lincoln as saying.
Against this backdrop, the ADC Oyo State Working Committee said no primary election had yet been conducted for any elective position in the state.
It consequently rejected what it described as any attempt to impose candidates or introduce consensus candidates without due process.
The state executive further said it was dissociating itself from any purported consensus candidates produced without the participation of the appropriate party structures.
It also disclosed that the State Primary Election Local Organising Committee and the State Working Committee were expected to meet within 24 hours to fine-tune arrangements for a meeting with all aspirants.
The proposed meeting, according to the statement, would determine the preferred mode of primary election while giving aspirants and stakeholders an opportunity to express their views.
The Oyo ADC leadership also declared its readiness to work with the national leadership of the party, stressing that all stakeholders and political blocs must be carried along in the process.
The statement was signed by Comrade Adedapo Ademola, State Publicity Secretary, African Democratic Congress, Oyo State.
The fresh disagreement now places the party’s internal electoral arrangements under renewed scrutiny as the deadline for submission of candidates approaches.
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