By Gloria Ikibah
Ahead of the Local Government Elections scheduled to hold on September 21, 2024, in Kwara State, the Concerned All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oke-ero has accused the State Chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi of imposition of candidate.
The group alleged that Fagbemi is backing the husband of his wife’s housemaid to emerge as the consensus candidate in Oke-ero at all costs.
This endorsement, the group claims, disregards the democratic process and traditions of the communities that constitute the LGA.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Mr Olarewaju Afolabi, the group named one Mr. James Fadipe was the aspirant who had been backed by the state APC chairman.
The group said this was after Fagbemi was alleged to have collected N10 million from the other two aspirants to influence their emergence as the consensus candidate.
The group stated that such a forceful imposition of an unpopular candidate on the people of Oke-ero is an aberration, thoughtless, and an affront, adding that Oke-ero has an age-long arrangement of how their chairmanship candidate usually emerges.
The group said that Fagbami’s move against the people of Oke-ero and the selection of who leads them at the council is a display of arrogance and devilish desires to control the politics of Oke-ero by all means.
According to the group, Fagbemi wants to put the cat before the horse in Oke-ero by leaving the community with 3 pooling units to pick a candidate from the community with 1 polling unit.
“It will be an aberration to reward the community that voted against APC in the 2019 and 2023 elections at the expense of the community that voted massively for APC.
The group described Fagbemi as a meddlesome interloper, stating that he should go and sort out his constituency, Ekiti LGA, rather than wanting to make Oke-ero the appendage of Ekiti.
The group stated that any attempt by Fagbemi to return Oke-ero to the PDP would be vehemently resisted, adding that the avoidance of the imposition of candidates on the party is a key ingredient of internal democracy.
“Anything short of this is a total detour from democratic norms and principles.
The group also queried Fadipe’s qualifications, describing him as mediocre and unfit to lead while calling for a more balanced and merit-based approach to political recruitment.
“The Fadipe that is being allegedly sponsored by the party chairman is mediocre. How could someone think in their wildest imagination that the affairs of Oke-ero would be handed over to such a person?
The group said there was a need for a revolutionary move to force those so-called stakeholders to know how to adopt an equilibrium model of political recruitment whenever faced with competition from political talents.
The group also called on Barr. Kayode Towoju, a Chieftain of APC in the LG, along with Femi Areku, an Aide to Governor Abdulrasaq Abdulrahman, and others to allow peace to reign in the LG, or their dubious character would be met with stiff resistance.
“The Oke-ero APC progressives demand a return to democratic processes and a rejection of candidate impositions to preserve the political integrity of their LGA.”