Primaries: Internal Wrangling As Osun APC Chieftain Calls Out Tinubu, Party Leaders

• Faults Party Leadership Style
• Says No Election In Osogbo Federal Constituency
• Members Protest Primary Results

The All Progressives Congress in Osun State may be facing an internal crisis following the primary elections held to elect candidates who will represent the party at the state and national assembly.

It would be recalled that members of the party on Saturday, May 16, Monday, May 18 and Wednesday, May 20, trooped out to elect the candidates who will represent the party at the House of Representatives, Senate and House of Assembly, respectively.

However, following the conclusion of the primaries and announcement of results, some chieftains and members of the party have alleged irregularities in the exercise.

Protests, allegations and counter allegations have followed the exercise, a development OSUN DEFENDER gathered has caused internal wrangling in the party.

In Osogbo federal constituency, Ayedaade/Irewole/ Isokan federal constituency, Obokun state constituency, Olaoluwa state constituency and some other places, some chieftains and members of the APC protested the results announced.

A chieftain of the APC in Osun, Akin Adeyi, while featuring on a private TV programme, faulted the leadership of the party in the state over what it described as inhuman treatment of members of the party during the primaries.

Adeyi said the way the leaders of the party were leading is condemnable, adding that there was no election in Osogbo federal constituency and the result was written.

OSUN DEFENDER reports that an Osogbo-born entrepreneur, Ibrahim Taofeek Kayode popularly called ITK was declared the winner of the election.

However, Adeyi claimed that the electoral body announced Kayode as the winner without conducting any poll.

“The way the leaders are leading is condemnable. How can you treat human beings like that? You put them under the sun, you did not go there. You went isnxjs one air conditional room and started writing the results and then those people will revolt and you will still condemn them and even threaten them with the police. Are we animals?

“A day before the primary election, we were expecting people from Abuja who would come and conduct the primary. That was when the game started and they started cooking up stories.

“At the end of the day, on the day of the election, they were nowhere to be found. ITK went to his ward with a scanty crowd and made a video congratulating himself and telling other aspirants to accept the result. That is even an electoral offence.

“I never expected a young man to be that desperate and those people that supported him, the leadership of the party, particularly in Olorunda local government, they were not very clean about it.

“The electoral body just sat somewhere to make an announcement. If you look at Olorunda Local Government in particular, they only awarded numbers to ITK, leaving the other aspirants out. There was no primary in Olorunda/Osgbo/Irepodun Orolu federal constituency. The people who were supposed to conduct the election were nowhere to be found,” Adeyi said on the show.

The APC chieftain also queried the rationale behind the candidates who are going to represent Osun Central and the House of Representatives candidate for Osogbo federal constituency coming from the same town.

“This ITK and K-RAD who emerged as the Osun Central Senatorial District candidate, are from Osogbo. How can Osogbo have a Senator and a House of Representatives candidate at the same time? The members of the party who trooped out to protest felt disappointed about the leadership of the party and were expressing their anger,” he added.

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Speaking further on the programme, Adeyi faulted President Bola Tinubu and other leaders of the party for adopting the consensus and direct primary as the two ways of selecting candidates for the party.

“The president and the party leaders made a serious mistake in this case. They have given the APC what I can call the ‘forbidden fruit’. The APC is not known for the idea of primaries. That is why they nicknamed the party ‘Baba Sope’ meaning (Whatever the leaders say). Now, in order to impress the international community, they announced consensus and direct primary as the options.

“However, the same people never remembered or care that if they adopt consensus, the moment one person disagrees, they will go to the field.

“Now with the power that has been given to the people that will disagree, you want to use the old method of ‘Baba Sope’. If they knew that was what they wanted, they shouldn’t have given the people the leverage,” Adeyi said.

Meanwhile, members of the APC in Obokun Local Government Area of the state last Thursday staged a protest at the state secretariat of the party in Osogbo, alleging plot to manipulate the outcome of the House of Assembly primary election in the area.

The protesters accused the lawmaker representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, Hon. Wole Oke, of attempting to replace the declared winner with the first runner-up.

Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Give us our mandate,” “Respect the will of the people,” and “Let people’s votes count,” the demonstrators said the primary was conducted peacefully and produced a clear winner in Mr. Gbenga Falope.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Mr. Oyewole Oyebanji maintained that the primary was conclusive and that Falope secured a decisive victory with 2,594 votes.

Oyebanji said any attempt to overturn the result would undermine internal democracy and erode trust in the party ahead of the 2026 general elections.

“We have been robbed by Hon. Wole Oke and Siji Olamiju. We went for the primary election on Wednesday and at the end of the day, Gbenga Falope won the primary election with 565 votes. He scored 2594 to defeat his nearest contestant who got 2020,” he stated.

Oyebanji added, “However, after the conclusion of the primary-process and movement to Osogbo for the issuance/documentation of nomination forms, the process suddenly became questionable and suspicious.

“We strongly believe and have credible information that Hon. Oluwole Oke, Member representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, interfered in the process and influenced the unlawful withholding/removal of the nomination form meant for the House of Assembly position.”

The protesters called on the leadership of the APC in the state to intervene urgently and validate the outcome of the primary.

“Falope is the winner and we will not accept injustice, manipulation, or the twisting of the democratic voice of APC members in Obokan Local Government. The peace, unity, and future electoral success of the APC depend on fairness, transparency, and respect for internal democracy.

“The era where the wishes of party members are ignored and replaced with personal political interests must come to an end. We therefore strongly call on the leadership of APC in Obokun and Osun State to urgently intervene and ensure that the authentic outcome of the primary election is respected,” Oyebanji said.

Reacting, Oke’s media aide, Tunde Omolebi-Sunday, in a chat with a journalist, described the allegations against the federal lawmaker as misleading, “and entirely mischievous.”

Omolebi-Sunday, further disclosed that Oke should not be associated with matters that are clearly beyond his jurisdiction.

“As Director-General of the Osun APC Gubernatorial Campaign Council, Hon. Oluwole Oke has no role whatsoever in the conduct, supervision, or determination of State House of Assembly primary election outcomes. Any claim to the contrary is a gross distortion of facts and a calculated attempt to mislead the public,” Omolebi-Sunday said.

Although he acknowledged the members’ legitimate right to express grievances, including through protests, he warned that such rights must be exercised responsibly.

He said, “They do not extend to the propagation of baseless accusations or the unwarranted targeting of individuals for issues outside their purview. All grievances should be directed to the appropriate party organs and duly constituted appeal committees established to address such concerns, rather than being weaponised through unfounded public attacks. The attempt to draw Hon. Oluwole Oke into these matters is not only misplaced but also reflects a weak effort to mask disappointment with conspiracy.”