There is a strong indication that the ruling All Progressives Congress in Ondo State may lose some of its members to the opposition parties following the crisis that trailed the recently concluded primaries of the party.
It was gathered that those who had lost the tickets of the party had been offered automatic tickets by some less-popular political parties in the state to contest the national and the state assembly elections in 2019.
A fresh crisis hit the APC in the state when some aspirants were allegedly denied tickets to contest the primary by the National Working Committee of the party.
The NWC was alleged to have given automatic tickets to the three serving senators and some incumbent members of the House of Representatives, without allowing elections to hold.
A source in the APC told our correspondent on condition of anonymity that some of the aggrieved aspirants had been meeting with leaders of the opposition parties in the state to agree on how they would leave the APC.
According to the source, many members of the APC in the state were not happy with the alleged imposition carried out by the national leadership of the party during the primary.
The source added that a few days to the deadline for the submission of candidates’ names to the Independent National Electoral Commission, opposition leaders had held several meetings to conclude the arrangement on how to submit the names of their candidates before the INEC deadline.
The source said, “Beginning from Monday (tomorrow), there will be an exodus of APC members to other parties because some aspirants who lost out in the last primary have already concluded plans to go to other parties for tickets.
“Already, talks have been ongoing and some of the parties that already have candidates are ready to make replacements for strong candidates from the APC, while those that don’t have candidates would now field the APC defectors as their candidates.”
One of the aggrieved aspirants told our correspondent on condition of anonymity, that he had already been given the ticket of another party to contest the forthcoming general elections.
He said, “I have been given an automatic ticket by a party but I will not announce it now until I leave the APC this week. I cannot withstand the impunity that Adams Oshiomhole (APC National Chairman) has brought to the party.
However, the APC chairman in the state, Mr. Ade Adetimehin, said no member of the party was planning to leave, adding that the party was still waxing stronger in the state.
He said, “I don’t have any information that anybody is leaving the party. All of us are busy preparing for the general elections and we will be victorious.”
