10 Political Parties Reject Endorsement of Ogun APM Governorship Candidate

A coalition of 10 political parties in Ogun  State on Wednesday debunked and rejected the reported endorsement of the state governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Hon Adekunle Akinlade, by the Intra-Party Advisory Council (IPAC).

The parties under the aegis of ‘Political Parties Chairmen’ Ogun State forum which addressed journalists in Abeokuta, the state capital, included All Blending Party (ABP), Peoples' Progressives Party (PPP), Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD), Democratic Peoples' Congress (DPC) and Progressives Peoples' Alliance (PPA).

Others are Better Nigerian Peoples' Party (NPP), Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), National Action Congress (NAC), National Democratic Liberty Party (NDLP) and Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN).

Spokesperson of the forum, Chief Olusegun Olufemi, dismissed a media report which claimed that 60 political parties in the state had adopted Akinlade, the preferred governorship candidate of the state Governor, Ibikunle Amosun.

According to him, the IPAC executives led by its Chairman, Abayomi Arabambi, was last Thursday reported to have led 60 political parties to endorse Akinlade during the APM flag-off ceremony held at the MKO international stadium in Abeokuta.

But the forum, which claimed not to be a parallel body to IPAC, said there was no time such action was collectively discussed by the members.

"We reject in its totality the adoption of any governorship candidate. We urge members of the public to disregard the purported adoption of any political party candidate.

"Calls have started going round about the adoption of the APM governorship candidate by IPAC.

"I want to state clearly that we did not adopt anyone since we also have our own governorship candidates. So, we have come here today to debunk such claim.

"Ogun is a state of the elite and such things should not come up. Arabambi-led executive members have turned themselves to a ‘butter and bread’ executives,” said Olufemi.

The forum, however, said it had petitioned the National Chairman of IPAC, Peter Ameh, against Arabambi-led executives.

The forum, in the petition dated December 24 and signed by all the 10 political parties, a copy of which was obtained by the media, accused the state chapter of IPAC of misconduct, abuse of office and actions inimical to the parties constituting IPAC in the state.

"We are of the view that IPAC executives in Ogun State have derailed  from their mandates judging from the recent reported endorsement and adoption of APM gubernatorial candidate in the state .

"It is curious and against the tenets of democracy for an executive of IPAC to unilaterally adopt a particular candidate  in  the coming general election without prior consent of the parties chairmen," the forum stated.