#ElectionBuzzNig’23
There is hope that the rescheduled governorship primary of the Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC) would hold on Friday, May 27, although it is not clear when the voting will begin or end.
However, delegates that would vote in the primary are already being conveyed into the main bowl of the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, formerly the Liberty Stadium, Oke-Ado, Ibadan, as 1,755 delegates are expected to decide who bears the party flag at the 2023 governorship election.
The figure, according to sources, comprises five delegates from each of the 351 electoral wards in the state.
The delegates were conveyed in batches in a white coaster bus, three Toyota hummer buses, and one Hyundai minibus, led by a police patrol van. In contrast, another police van served as backup.
It was gathered that the delegates who had been conveyed to the primary venue were those who had been cleared earlier at an ongoing screening holding at Jogor Events Center, a few minutes drive from the election venue.
According to sources, the aspirants, the party leadership, and the committee to conduct the election agreed on the plan to convey only accredited delegates in batches to the venue under strict monitoring and supervision to prevent unauthorised non-delegates from entering the event venue.
Apart from delegates and security operatives, only journalists are allowed into the stadium premises, particularly the main bowl, after security checks by a combined team of police officers and operatives of the Department of State Services.
Security personnel are on the stadium’s ground in their numbers, while about five police patrol vans are stationed at the stadium’s main entrance. Other vans are strategically within the main bowl and outer court of the stadium.
No party official or member of Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi-led committee sent to conduct the primary has been sighted as at the time of filing this report.
Also, the committee members, governorship aspirants, and party leaders, among others, are busy at the Jogor Event Centre coordinating and sorting issues of alleged doctoring of the delegates list by some aspirants, which arose on Thursday.
Unlike what transpired on Thursday, the main bowl of the stadium is devoid of the usual funfair, singing, and dancing as no banner, poster, or anything to sell any candidate was not allowed into the stadium.
Six aspirants, including Chief Niyi Akintola, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan, Senator Teslim Folarin, Engineer Akeem Alao, Akeem Agbaje, and Chief Adebayo Adelabu, are expected to participate in the primary.
However, the legal luminary, Niyi Akintola, had, on Thursday, said he would not take part in the primary. When filing this report, it could not be confirmed if the party leadership had prevailed on him to change his decision.
Unconfirmed sources said the delay in the accreditation of the delegates could have resulted from an effort to right the wrongs on the allegation of doctoring the delegates’ list, which some aspirants said had been skewed to favour a particular aspirant.
E/Suzan O.
