Some aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State on Friday stormed the party’s secretariat in Ibadan to protest the choice of candidate for the Ibadan North Federal Constituency by-election.

The seat became vacant following the death of the occupier of the position in the House of Representatives, Olaide Akinremi.

Some of the APC aspirants jostling to fill the vacant seat in the House of Representatives are Olaleye Segun, Lapade Idris, Farouk Arisekola, Adekunle Oladeji, Saheed Aderounmu, Balikis Junaid, Oluyinka Omikunle, Olaitan Victor, Kalil Mustapha and Adewale Olatunji.

The APC had scheduled its primary election for Sunday, but irregularities and logistical setbacks disrupted the exercise, leaving the constituency without a declared candidate.

The protesters, who chanted solidarity songs and carried placards with different inscriptions, decried the party’s national leadership’s silence over the allegedly unresolved matter.

They warned that the current situation may ruin the party’s chances at the upcoming poll, describing the silence of the national leaders as frustrating, demoralising and potentially dangerous to the party’s cohesion.

“It’s unfair that days after the aborted primary at Royal Garden, Ijokodo, we still don’t know who our candidate is,” a protester lamented while speaking with journalists. 

A party chieftain, who spoke on condition of anonymity, decried the disorganised process, saying members felt abandoned, disrespected and sidelined by a leadership that should be uniting the party ahead of the crucial election.

With the by-election scheduled for August 16, the protesters called on the APC national leaders to intervene and ensure a transparent and inclusive process that would restore confidence and strengthen party unity. 

(NAN)