Segun Ayinde, Abeokuta
Some members of the All Progressives Congress in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State have protested the party’s decision to impose one Abdulsalaam Ayorinde as the candidate of the party for the July 24 council election in the state.
The party members, who stormed the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ Secretariat, Iwe-Iroyin Abeokuta, on Tuesday, called on Governor Dapo Abiodun to save the APC from imminent collapse in the hands of party leaders who want to impose unknown consensus candidate on them.
They accused the party leadership and some elders in their LGA of not having the interest of the people at heart by imposing Ayorinde on them, insisting that Ishola is the candidate of their choice.
The members were armed with placards with various inscriptions such as ‘We don’t want Ayorinde, we want Ishola, we want TJ Ishola as Chairman,’; we support Tajudeen Ishola; we love our Governor, we want the best for Abeokuta North.
They, therefore, urged Abiodun to wade into the crisis and prevail on the leadership of Abeokuta North LG to reject Ayorinde and accept Ishola back as the candidate of their choice to contest for the chairmanship position at the poll.
Speaking to newsmen, the Coordinator of TJ Vanguard, Rasak Akewugberu, said that unless the party leadership at the council returned Ishola as the chairmanship candidate before the election, APC might cease to exist at the LGA
Akewugberu appealed to the governor to listen to the plea of the people and ask the leaders and elders at the council to return Ishola as the candidate contesting for the position of the chairman in order to restore peace among the people in the LGA.
“We are here to plead with our governor, Dapo Abiodun, we love him so much and we don’t want APC to die in Abeokuta North Local Government Area. We want the governor to please listen to what the people of Abeokuta North are saying that we want Tajudeen Ishola as our candidate in Abeokuta North for the local government election” he said.