Angered by her
inability to clinch its Edo South senatorial ticket during the recent
primary election, a frontline member of the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN), Mercy Obamogie has formerly pulled out of the party.
In her resignation
letter, which was made available to NEXT, Mrs. Obamogie accused the
leadership of the party in Edo State of hijacking and manipulating the
primaries process to favour certain members.
She specifically
accused the governor, Adams Oshiomhole, of manipulating the party’s
last primaries, saying it “was marred with violence, thuggery and
outright manipulation of results as directed by Oshiomhole.”
She said the party
leaders denied members “their constitutional right of voting for
candidates of their choice against the so-called governor’s mantra of
one-man-one-vote”.
“You will recall
that candidates were imposed on the people against their wish in almost
all parts of Edo State. I am sure that you will agree with me that
imposition is the worst form of autocracy anywhere in the world, and
that autocracy is anti-democracy.”
Referring to
newspaper reports on the party’s chairmanship election that returned
Bisi Akande as national chairman of ACN, she said “this anti-democracy
tenet of ACN is not restricted to Edo state alone, but is celebrated by
the national executive of ACN.”
The former
senatorial aspirant said that she decided to leave the party “since ACN
(nationally and Edo State in particular) does not wish to practice true
democracy. I refuse to be part of the autocracy that the ACN is
currently noted for.”
The chairman of the party in the state, Thomas Okosun however described Mrs. Obamogie’s allegations as untrue and baseless.
“It is clear to
everybody that there was no imposition of candidates in the primary
elections,” Mr Okosun said. “We conducted the elections since January
12, why is she coming out to complain by this time?
“Which ward did she win in the 77 wards in Edo south senatorial
district? How can she come from America two months to the election and
expect to win without knowing the names of party members? She should
face the reality. If she wants to leave the party, let her look for
other reasons. I don’t want to say that she is lying, but I think she
is economical with the truth.”
