Ondo bye-election: APC members urge party to pick candidate from LG
Ondo bye-election: APC members urge party to pick candidate from LG
Hundreds of members of the All Progressives Congress in Akoko North-West Local Government Area of Ondo State have called on the party leadership in the state to pick a candidate from the local government to fill the vacant seat of the Akoko North-East/Akoko North-West Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
The seat of the federal constituency became vacant following the resignation of the former elected representative of the constituency, Mr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who has been appointed as the Minister for Interior by President Bola Tinubu.
The APC members, who held a peaceful rally in Arigidi Akoko, on Friday, said the candidate to fill the vacant seat must be picked from their local government, saying plan against their wish might not be good for the party.
Leader of the group, Mrs Simbiat Ajana, said the motive of the rally was to call the attention of the party leadership to the fact that the local government should retain the right to produce another House of Representatives member in line with the unwritten rotational arrangements between them and the Akoko North-East Local Government.
Ajana, who is the APC Woman Leader in Akoko North West LG, noted that Tunji-Ojo is from Akoko North-West LG and somebody from the council should be the candidate to finish the term .
She said, “The seat is shared rotationally between two constituencies, Akoko North-East and Akoko North-West Local Governments of Ondo State. The by-election in which the House of Representatives member will be chosen is to be conducted soon in the two local government areas.
“With the resignation of Bunmi Tunji-Ojo who hails from Akoko North- West Local Government Area, another indigene of the local government should be supported by APC to occupy the vacant seat in the spirit of fairness and balancing.
“The Akoko North-East Local Government Area has produced the current senator, Jide Ipinshagba, an APC member who presently represents Ondo North Senatorial District in the senate; therefore, it would be extremely unfair to us if the same local government area (Akoko North-East) produces candidates for both senate and House of Representatives.”
She enjoined Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to make sure fair play was generally maintained in the primary, ahead the forthcoming by-election.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission is yet to fix the date for the primary of the by-election and the by-election.
