Shittu rejects indirect primaries in Oyo, says process targeted at him

Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communication and an All Progressives Congress governorship aspirant for Oyo State,has rejected the indirect primary election adopted for the state.
He said: “I, Adebayo Shittu, the leading governorship aspirant of the APC in Oyo State, rejects the recommendation of the NWC for indirect primary in the state.”
Shittu stated this on Thursday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen at the APC national Secretariat after meeting with the party’s National Working Committee.
He also pointed out that issues surrounding the emergence of the leadership of the state chapter of the party were still being contested at the courts.
Shittu said part of the reasons he rejected the adoption of indirect primaries in the State was because those to serve as delegates, constituted the bulk of those handpicked for the party’s state Congresses, which are being contested in court.
He stressed that the decision to adopt the indirect primaries in Oyo State was particularly aimed at preventing him from having a fair opportunity to contest, participate and to win the primary election.
He said: “The direct primary system will surely allow all aspirants in the party to test their popularity.”
He added that the system gives party members a fair opportunity of voting for candidates of their choice.
Shittu stressed that if the party members were the true owners of the party, they should be allowed to take its ownership, particularly with regard to selecting a candidate of their choice.
The minister, however, advised the APC leadership not to allow the desperate desire of “some political bigwigs” to produce a stooge as a candidate for the 2019 election in the state.
He said majority of the people in the state had vowed not to support such candidate if presented by the party for the election.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the APC governorship primaries come up on September 29, across the 36 states of the federation.