Primaries: Amosun, Ogun APC faction may defect to Accord

Indications emerged on Wednesday that Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state may defect to Accord Party.
Elders of the party in a meeting in Abeokuta  resolved that the controversy on the governorship ticket should be put behind them as they prepare for the 2019 elections.
The resolution was arrived at after Amosun reportedly briefed the elders on all attempts made to validate the election of Abiodun Akinlade in the governorship primaries in the state penultimate week.
The primaries ran into troubled waters when the State Chairman of the party announced the election of Akinlade while the Chairman of the National Working Committee on the primaries at a press conference in Lagos  announced Prince Dapo Abiodun as winner of the election.
The NWC committee Chairman, Retired Police Commissioner Ndabawa dismissed Akinlade’s election, arguing that his committee was the one saddled with the responsibility of organising the election.
The APC Chairman in the state also dismissed Abiodun’s election, arguing that the  NWC Committee did not conduct any election but falsified the result in an hotel in Ikeja, Lagos.
The conflict remained unresolved and the presidency directed primaries into National and State Assemblies to establish the truth about conflicting claims of strength between the group led by Vice President Yemi Osibajo, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Dapo Abiodun on one hand and Amosun on the other hand.
The Amosun group won all available seats including three senate, nine House of Representatives and 26 House of Assembly seats leaving  no seat for the Osinbajo/ Osoba group. The son of Osoba, Olumide, who contested the House of Representatives ticket for Abeokuta Federal Constituency, was defeated by Muiz Kazeem by 23,000 votes to 4,050 votes.
However, the result which was announced by the NWC committee in Abeokuta, did not resolve the crisis. The Osinbajo/Osoba group, which though accepted the result  consented to Akinlade as governorship candidate but on the condition that they were given two out of the three senatorial tickets, four out of the nine House of Representatives tickets and 13 out of the 26 House of Assembly tickets.
The Amosun group rejected the request, insisting on the party respecting the outcome of the primary elections.
“It is clear that a candidate who lost all senatorial, representatives and Assembly seats could not have  won the gubernatorial ticket. The party should do the right thing or else we leave”, a party official, who pleaded anonimity, said.
He explained that the party leaders had given up on the national leadership of the party but that it was Amosun who insisted on pursuing their aspirations on the platform of the APC because of his closeness to the president.
“He told us that the president had instructed Oshiomole to announce the authentic result of the governorship primaries but he refused. If the president cannot enforce his orders, then he has lost control of his government and it is a waste of time defending him at the expense of our own future. If he refuses to accept our request, we will leave the governor alone with his friend”, he said.