A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Farouq Aliyu, has attributed the party’s defeat in the Osun State governorship election to internal disagreements among its members.
Aliyu said some APC members were unhappy with the party’s candidate and allegedly refused to support his campaign, contributing to the party’s loss at the polls.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Monday, Aliyu said the party did everything possible to win the election but acknowledged that internal divisions affected its performance.
He said: “We did our best. I mean, we did what we thought could make us win the election, but of course, here and there, at the back end, we’re discussing to see the details of really what has happened.
“We did everything, everything possible, humanly possible, to win the election, and kudos also to our government. I mean, the federal government in such a way that all the political pundits who thought that APC was going to just take it, and APC was just going to write the results and so on, things happened the way they did, and Osun people decided they wanted Accord party, and so be it.
“You know there’s a lot of internal wranglings amongst our members. You know, in Osun State, there are people who were not happy with our candidate, which is true. Some people were happy with the candidate.
“So, in terms of choice of candidate, probably that’s what we have to look at to make sure that probably the person who has the the largest followership amongst the party members is put up for election.
“Certainly some members of our party did not do what they are supposed to do because out of anger, really they didn’t like their candidate.
“So that’s the major problem internally that we had. It’s amongst us.”
Aliyu said the APC would need to review its candidate-selection process to ensure that future candidates have broader support among party members.
DAILY POST reported that the APC lost the Osun governorship election to the Accord Party, with Governor Ademola Adeleke securing victory with a wide margin.
Osun: We did everything possible – Farouq Aliyu reveals why APC lost