Primaries: Oyo APC meets Reps, Assembly aspirants

The All Progressives Congress in Oyo State will today (Thursday) meet with the House of Representatives and House of Assembly aspirants jostling for the positions come 2027.

The state Publicity Secretary, Wale Sadare, disclosed this during a telephone interview with The PUNCH in Ibadan, the state capital.

He said the meeting, which will have the state party executive council members in attendance and other critical stakeholders of APC, will take place at the APC state secretariat, Oke-Ado in Ibadan, the state capital.

Sadare said, “Yes, there will be a meeting tomorrow (Thursday), but only for House of Representatives and House of Assembly aspirants. The meeting with the governorship aspirants will be held later.”

The PUNCH reports that the state chairman of the party, Chief Moses Adeyemo, alongside some aspirants, held a meeting with the National Chairman of the APC in Abuja on Tuesday.

Though there was no official statement on the purpose of the meeting, sources privy to it said it was not unconnected with the adoption of consensus candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections in the state.

Meanwhile, concerned stakeholders alongside some aspirants under the party in the state have declared that they will vehemently reject any attempt by APC leaders to truncate direct primaries in picking the party’s candidates for the 2027 election.

In a statement released by Bamidele Atiba, in Ibadan, the state capital, on Wednesday, the stakeholders urged the state APC chairman to avoid actions that could deepen divisions and jeopardise the party’s chances in the forthcoming polls.

Atiba said, “The Electoral Act and party guidelines provide for direct primaries where consensus fails. President Bola Tinubu has also backed the use of direct primaries in such situations.”

Describing the recent meeting attended by the state chairman in Abuja as “a show of shame,” Atiba said, the group still respects Adeyemo but would not accept any move to undermine direct primaries.

He added that those invited to Abuja’s meeting were not even up to one per cent of all the APC aspirants in Oyo in the 2027 election.”

The group added that the stakeholders would attend the meeting scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday), but would reject any attempt to push consensus.

“We will attend tomorrow’s (Thursday) meeting called by the chairman, but he should never talk about the adoption of consensus.

“We will vehemently reject any attempt to truncate direct primaries in picking the party’s governorship candidate.

“Forcing all 2027 aspirants into a consensus arrangement would be rejected at the meeting. We stood for direct primaries and internal democracy within the party,” he said.