The All Progressives Congress (APC) membership registration and revalidation exercise in Ogun State is said to have turned into a ‘black market’.
It was gathered that the ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise was seen to be by caucus as some factions are not given the opportunity to enrol for the exercise, while some group saw it a way of sending others out of the party.
While the exercise commenced on Tuesday, many polling units and wards are yet to set their eyes on the registration forms let alone revalidating membership or registering their names as new members.
In places where the forms are available, there was what the people termed ‘rationing’, whereby a few forms will be made available to loyalists of the faction in charge of the exercise.
It was also gathered that some leaders took the forms into their rooms in order to register party members in their group. One of such was discovered somewhere in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government.
For this reason, a renowned member of the party from Yewa North, Hon. Sogo Akinde described the whole registration as a black market.
Explaining why he described the exercise as black market, Hon. Akinde said, “They don’t display black market for buyers to see, you look for where they hide it.”
Some party members from Ipokia Local Government lamented that “We have been visiting our pulling units since Tuesday, nobody is there for the APC registration exercise.”
Reacting to the video, the Ogun APC Spokesman, Hon. Tunde Oladunjoye, condemned the action of the registration officer, saying the man acted solely on his own and without discretion.
Ogun APC Spokesman, Hon. Tunde Oladunjoye , while speaking during his membership revalidation in Abeokuta on Wednesday, disclosed that Amosun said he had been bombarded with calls from people saying they were being denied registration.
The former governor assured that everybody will be registered, charging the supervising committee in Ogun State to improve on its performance.
In his comment about the situation, the Chairman of the registration committee in Ogun State, Ademorin Kuye, confirmed seeing a video of people being refused registration, but said nobody will be excluded.
“I have told the Secretary to summon a meeting of all supervisors and registration officers for Saturday, and we are going to talk to ourselves again.
“The instruction from the national secretariat is that all, excluding none, must be registered.
“We have sufficient forms. The forms that have been brought to this state, is more than the registered number of voters that will vote during the election. So there’s no need to rush,” Kite said in Abeokuta.
However, reports from different local government areas are contrary to the claim that there are sufficient forms.
In some polling units, it was alleged that forms are being hoarded for unknown reasons, while the registration of members is also being delayed.
A former Councillor in Ipokia Local Government, Hon. Elijah Ogunleye, said many polling units visited between Wednesday and Thursday were without registration officers.
He stressed that in the units where the exercise was taking place, officers were seen with few forms, leaving many faithful party members unregistered and disappointed.
In Abeokuta South, seven party leaders were said to have been summoned by the police over a petition filed by another faction of the APC in the local government about the ongoing exercise.
The summoned party leaders included Chief Sunday Showunmi, Hon Femi Allen-Taylor, Hon Wasiu Sodipo, Hon Akeem Odejimi, Mr Aremu Omidiji, Mr Lekan Soetan and Sunday Omidiji.
It was reported that they were earlier taken to the Police station at Oke-Itoku on Thursday, before they were taken to the Area Command at Oke-Ilewo, and thereafter transported to the police headquarters Eleweran, Abeokuta for further interrogation.
These happenings in the APC called the attention of the Ogun State Chapter of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
The State Chariman of the NNPP, Olaposi Oginni, on Friday, accused the Abiodun’s government of arresting one Mr Sodiq Wasiu for leading a protest against the manners in which the exercise was being carried out.
Wasiu, in a video, said he was the Ward Supervisor for Ilaro Ward 2, stating that he attended the APC membership registration and revalidation training in Abeokuta.
“The instruction is that Ward Supervisors should go home to train Unit Supervisors. But to our surprise this morning, they were broadcasting that His Excellency, Gov Dapo Abiodun said they should not register anybody from Amosun camp, Osoba camp, Olubori camp, BOT camp and so on.
“They said they are the owner of the party, they are the democrats. We want the government to intervene. This is a pure party issue. Party should please take proper action on this,” he said.
The NNPP Chairman confirmed that Wasiu was at Eleweran police headquarters as of Friday.
He said “Gov. Dapo Abiodun is becoming intolerant and autocratic. On what basis should a Governor initiate the arrest of Mr. Sodiq Wasiu, the APC Chairman of Ward 2 Ilaro, basically on what he said in the video of a peaceful protest on the illegal revalidation exercise of the APC? Our take as opposition leaders in Ogun State is to quickly nip this ugly trend in the bud before those in Ogun State Government House become monsters that will terrorise opposition parties, using Nigeria police and other security agencies as tools of attacks on opposition and divergent views,” Oginni said in a statement.
But, a Special Assistant to Gov Abiodun on New Media, Ola Muritala, briefly replied Oginni, saying: “Olaposi Oginni, I hope you have listened to the man talking in your video? How would you feel if you’re judged with “they said, they said claim”? I’m sad the way politics is being practised by some individuals!”
As of now, APC members in Ogun State are hopeful that things may improve after today’s meeting with the committee and ward supervisors.
But, an APC stalwart secretly noted that there may not be any changes after the meeting, explaining that “the decision to exclude some people was taken by some individuals who are already thinking of the possibility of a direct primary election for the 2023 polls.”