The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has reportedly dropped eight names from its list of candidates for the Ondo State House Assembly in the 2027 elections.
Thefrontrank gathered that the affected aspirants were replaced by the party after reviewing petitions arising from the state assembly primary held in the state.
Authoritative party sources disclosed that the NWC of the party had uploaded the names of the 26 candidates for the Ondo State House of Assembly on the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) portal, replacing candidates backed by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Thefrontrank reports that the governor had imposed the 26 assembly “candidates” loyal to him on the party faithful through controversial elections conducted in May.
A source at the APC national secretariat in Abuja who gave the figure, said: “I know that eight aspirants from the governor’s list were substituted following the report of the election appeal committee.”
The source who declined to give the details, only named aspirants for Akoko North-East Constituency, Akoko North-West Constituency I, Akoko North-West Constituency II, Akoko South-West Constituency I, and Akoko South-West Constituency II, among those that were affected.
According to him, the party retain the member representing Akoko South-East Constituency in the Assembly.
However, sources within the party narrated that the speaker of the State House of Assembly, whose was removed from the initial list, had to “beg some powerful leaders” of the party in Abuja before his name was restored.
A party chieftain in Ondo State, while speaking on the development, said that Governor Aiyedatiwa, who is daily losing political followers, is engaging in “last-minute negotiations” as part of the efforts at securing his political survival.
“The problem is that the governor is acting unilaterally. He has not being carrying leaders along in major political decisions. He has deliberately brushed aside leaders and those that matters in the party in Ondo State.
“As a matter of fact, the governor now sees those who stood by him during his political travails in 2023 as arch-enemies.
“Today, he is begging and pleading for truce, but it is too late. The train has left the station,” the party leader said.
The APC chieftain disclosed that the national working committee is closely monitoring activities of the state leadership of the party and the governor ahead of the 2027 elections
