Following the successful conduct of the Local Government Primary Election of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in Osun, the Special Adviser to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola on Political Matters, Sunday Akere, has lauded the leadership and members of the party for allowing peace to reign before, during and after the process.
He said the gesture has further strengthened the existing internal democracy, peaceful-cohesive principles and democratic tenets which the APC and progressives are known for.
Akere made the statement while reacting to some of the questions asked on a Radio programme in Osogbo on Tuesday.
He described the huge success recorded throughout the process leading to the primary as unprecedented noting that the APC and its loyalists had further endeared themselves to the people of the state and beyond.
“To me as a person, our people have further shown to the whole world that they are peace-loving. Taking cognisance of the unfolding developments leading to the primary election, one will not but appreciate the fact that real internal democracy, peaceful-cohesive principles indeed exist in our great Party, the All Progressives Congress.
“Aside the fact that the leadership and members of the party were largely on same page to ensure a rancour -free and peaceful conduct, the outcome of the election to some larger extent was a clear testimony to the fairness and firmness of our party.
“The entire process started last month August 29th when we rolled out the sale of the Expression of Interest Forms (EOI) which lasted for just three days after which the Screening and Appeal Committees were set up.
“They sat for three days and their reports were submitted informing the decision of the leadership of the party.
“About 925 aspirants obtained forms for the position of Councillorship while 289 aspirants collected forms for the position of Chairmanship respectively. Though, there are 393 seats for the Councillorship and 69 seats for Chairmanship respectively.
“The party had earlier decided on direct mode of primary and set up 5-man Screening Committee per Federal Constituency and 3-man Appeal Committee per Federal Constituency with a task to see to the possibility of ensuring drastic reduction in the number of contestants.
“The success of this at the end of the screening was the fact that we were able to reduce the 925 Councillorship contestants to 72 as well as 289 Chairmanship contestants to 25.
“2 collation officers for Local Government and 2 returning officers were appointed for each Ward and after the primary, there was an Appeal Committee made up of 5-man per Senatorial District respectively charged with the responsibility of looking into any petition arising from the primary election and advising the leadership appropriately. This will be the first time we will be following this type of process for the selection of candidates and it has assisted a lot in strengthening democracy and entrenching the confidence of the party members in the system”. Akere explained.
