Supporters protest Ondo Rep’s omission from APC candidate list

Supporters of the member representing Ondo East/Ondo West Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Abiola Makinde, on Wednesday took to the streets to protest the exclusion of his name from the list of candidates released by the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress.

Makinde, who is seeking a third term in the House of Representatives, was said to have participated in and won the party’s House of Representatives primary election in the constituency. However, his name was omitted from the list of candidates released by the party.

The development comes days after hundreds of women in the APC in Ondo State staged a protest in Akure, the state capital, over the list released by the party’s national secretariat.

The women alleged that some of the names on the list were not those of candidates who emerged victorious in the House of Representatives primary elections conducted last month.

The protest spread to Ondo Town on Wednesday, as hundreds of APC members loyal to Makinde marched through major streets to express their dissatisfaction over what they described as an injustice.

The protesters sang solidarity songs and displayed placards with inscriptions such as “Truth Must Prevail in APC,” “We Reject Injustice,” and “This Injustice Can’t Stand,” among others.

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They insisted that the purported appeal list did not reflect the actual outcome of the party’s primary election and warned that any attempt to overturn Makinde’s victory could create discontent within the party.

Speaking during the protest, a party chieftain in the constituency, Isaac Oyebade, said the supporters would not remain silent in the face of what they considered injustice.

“Our loyalty to the APC is not in doubt, but loyalty must never be mistaken for silence in the face of injustice,” he said.

“We are here to defend the mandate freely given by party members and to ensure that justice prevails.”

Another party chieftain, Ife Olasanoye, described the protest as a struggle for truth, transparency and justice.

According to him, the stakeholders were not fighting against the APC but were seeking to protect “the core values upon which the party stands.”