Oshiomhole held hostage by APC members who stormed party secretariat to protest imposition of candidates

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) chairman Adams Oshiomhole was held hostage yesterday by party members who stormed the national secretariat in Abuja to protest the imposition of candidates across several states during the recent primary elections.

Like most of Nigeria's 90 other registered parties, the APC held its primaries last weekend but in several states, elections did not take place at all. In many instances, governors imposed their candidates on the parties, several contestants were asked to back out at the last minute and in some cases, lists were drawn up and submitted to party headquarters before elections even took place.

Irate APC members have complained bitterly in some states like Ekiti, Ondo, Zamfara, Kwara and Delta states, claiming that the candidates pit forward were not elected by them. Yesterday, hundreds of protesters from Nasarawa, Kano and Niger states, besieged the APC headquarters in Abuja, blocking its gates as they made their objections known too.

These music-blasting protesters arrived at about 5pm and took over all the entry and exit points at the APC secretariat chanting anti-Oshiomhole songs. They said they are against the action of the party leadership in granting automatic tickets to some of the aspirants.

Most of the staff and national officers of the party, including Mr Oshiomhole, were held hostage for hours at the secretariat. After hours of bitter exchanges and a stand-off, the party leadership of part prevailed on the aspirants believed to have brought in the protesters to talk to them.

To address their concerns, Mr Oshiomhole has set up a five-man appeal committee to consider petitions arising from the party primaries conducted across the country. Headed by the former governor of Edo State Professor Oserheimen Osunbor, the panel includes Hon Mike Ugwa, who will serve as its secretary, Alhaji Musa Gwadabe, Bashorun Reuben Famnyibo and Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu.

Speaking at the inauguration of the appeal panel, Mr Oshiomhole expressed hope that they would be able rise beyond sentiments to do justice to the assignment. He said they have until today to complete the job as the party hopes to commence forwarding of names of its candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) tomorrow.

Mr Oshiomhole said: “I know you are going to face challenges mainly from those who do not have facts to back their petitions and will want to cause distractions."

So far, the APC leadership has received over 20 petitions protesting against the outcome of congresses across several states. Responding on behalf of the committee, Professor Osunbor said they would do their best to attend to all the petitions.