Olumilua to APC: Conduct ‘fresh, transparent primary’ in Ondo •Asks Buhari to wade into Tinubu/Odigie-Oyegun face-off

A former governor of old Ondo State and All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, Evangelist  Bamidele Olumilua, has called for outright cancellation of the September 3, governorship primary of the APC in Ondo State

He warned the cancellation would be  “to avoid failure of the party at the poll.”

Olumilua, who made the call while speaking with newsmen in his Ikere-Ekiti community on Wednesday, also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently intervene in the raging feud between a national leader of the APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the national chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

According to him, if the party went ahead to the election without conducting what he referred to as “a fresh, transparent primary,”  he held that “it could lead to the failure of the party at the poll, and as well affect the unity of the party.”

He said: “The protest, and the kind of information that we received after the primary is unpalatable and does not portray our party in good light. It does not say well of us as a party that is trying to instill discipline. With this development, what are we instilling?  What are we teaching then? What lesson or impression are we creating? Definitely, it is a negative impression that sends a bad signal about us and our party.

“We must urgently correct it now, and re-conduct a fresh primary for the governorship otherwise; our party may be heading for failure at the poll. And it will not only stop at this, it will also affect our popularity, and it will affect the unity of our members.”

On the feud between Tinubu and Odigie-Oyegun, the former governor said it was an “unfortunate development that could further affect the unity of the party in great measures.”

He said: “When two elephants fight, the grass suffers. No doubt, this misunderstanding has further caused a lot of damage within our party, and it would continue to polarise the party, and could cause the early disintegration of the party, if care is not taken.”

Olumilua called on President Buhari, APC elders and other leaders of the party to wade into the crisis to save the party.

He specifically urged President Buhari “to intervene speedily before it is too late, because the enemy could also hijack the situation to further wreck havoc in our party, a situation which, if care is not taken, could bring down our party.”