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Governor Ibikunle Amosun

 

Hours after Adams Oshiomhole met with the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, and some of his fellow governors, the APC headquarters gave a verdict against the Ogun governor’s interest, according to a report by Premium Times.

 

Recall that the APC in Ogun, led by Mr Amosun, had adopted Adekunle Akinlabi, a federal lawmaker, as its ‘consensus’ governorship candidate despite the protest of several other aspirants.

 

When the APC National Working Committee, led by Mr Oshiomhole, dispatched a governorship primary committee to the state, the committee had a troubled relationship with the Ogun APC whose chairman, Derin Adebiyi, accused Mr Oshiomhole of plotting to impose a candidate on Ogun.

 

The two parties (Ogun APC and NWC primary committee) refused to work together eventually resulting to the conduct of two parallel governorship primaries in Ogun.

 

As expected, the Ogun APC loyal to Mr Amosun declared Mr Akinlabi winner of its governorship primary.

 

However, the Muhammed Ndabawa-led electoral committee declared another aspirant, Dapo Abiodun, winner of the governorship primary it conducted.

 

Both primaries were conducted same day, Wednesday.

 

By Thursday, Mr Amosun joined about seven other APC governors in Abuja to protest the conduct of primaries in their states. The problems each of the governors had with the primaries largely differed from the other. For example, while the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai’s problem was the automatic ticket granted an APC senator, Shehu Sani, by the NWC, Mr Amosun’s problem was mainly with the controversial governorship primaries.

 

The aggrieved governors met with both Mr Oshiomhole and earlier with President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

However on Thursday night, the APC NWC released a series of statements one of which declared support for the Ogun governorship primary conducted by its committee.

 

The NWC affirmed Dapo Abiodun as the winner of its governorship primaries.

 

The party said this in the statement by its publicity secretary, Yekini Nabena

 

Mr Abiodun won with 102,305 votes while his opponents Jimi Lawal scored 51,153, Kunle Akinlade – 23, 443, Bimbo Ashiru – 29, 764, Adegbenga Kaka – 17, 771 and Abayomi Koroto – 9, 610.

 

“The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) announces Mr. Dapo Abiodun as winner of the Party’s Ogun State governorship primaries. Abiodun won the primary election after scoring 102,305 votes,” Mr Nabena said.

 

It is not yet clear what action Mr Amosun will take with the latest announcement.