Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Thousands of youths, who claimed to be members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, have protested against what they described as the imposition of a candidate in the party’s just concluded National Assembly primary election in the state.
The youths, who staged a peaceful protest to the state secretariat of the APC in Ilorin, at the weekend, urged the party’s national leadership to come to their aid so as to ensure a landslide electoral victory for the party in the 2027 general election in the state.
Addressing journalists in Ilorin on the development, the APC youth coordinator in Kwara South senatorial district of the state, who led the protesters to the state secretariat of the APC, Mr. AbdulGafar Alawode, insisted that they only want a free, fair and transparent electoral process.
He said that party members should be allowed to elect their representatives through credible primaries rather than imposition.
Alawode stated that rather than democratic display, “we witnessed imposition of candidate on Saturday”.
According to him, “The candidate that was eventually announced to contest the Ifelodun/Oyun/Offa federal constituency seat was forced on us.
“I couldn’t believe when i started hearing the counting from 1-14 then junmped to 25, 26, 38, 62. What a mockery of the institution called democracy.
“We attempted to contest it yesterday (Saturday) but for the fear of being tagged hoodlums, we decided to bring our displeasure and complaints to the party secretariat. Instead of being heard, we were brutalised.”
He said he and other party members expected direct primaries where votes count, rather than imposition, declaring that the districts, Kwara South/Central would not accept the outcome of the exercise.
Alawode however described the elections as “unacceptable and condemnable”.
He also berated the deployment of thugs to intimidate them while staging a peaceful protest.
According to him, “Many of our members were attacked and this is uncalled for as we have supported the APC to win elections in Kwara State and we didn’t expect such attack on us.”
He therefore urged the national leadership of APC to come to its aid in the state so as to ensure the electoral victory of the party in the 2027 elections.
