There have been lots of controversies as two major political parties in the southwest geo-political zone, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have conducted their primaries for various elective positions ahead of the 2023 general elections.
However, the exercise is one that has been deeply enmeshed with controversies.
The southwest zone is made up of six States in the present federal system of government.
The six states predominantly dominated by Yoruba speakers are Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Lagos, Ondo and Ekiti.
Reports has it that candidates that will fly the gubernatorial flags of the two major political parties in three of the States where the gubernatorial election would be held next year have emerged, though with some internal crisis.
The three States where the gubernatorial election would be held in 2023 are Oyo, Ogun and Lagos. The other States such as Osun and Ekiti will have their elections in the next few weeks, while the Ondo election will be held in 2024.
Similarly, candidates for the various Houses of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate have emerged, with some constituencies characterized by internal wranglings.
Our correspondent gathered that while some candidates emerged through consensual arrangement, others emerged through indirect primaries, although most of the primaries were heavily monetized.
There were also alleged cases of imposition and intimidation of aspirants in some of the constituencies.
Oyo
In Oyo State where the PDP is the ruling party, Governor Seyi Makinde was re-elected as the PDP candidate ahead of 2023. Makinde scored a total of 1,040 votes out of 1,048 accredited votes to defeat his only challenger, a former Deputy Governor, Alhaji Azeem Gbolarumi.
It was gathered that all the candidates that emerged for other positions are people loyal to the governor.
The three PDP senatorial candidates emerged at the poll through a consensual arrangement. They are Engineer Joseph Tegbe (Oyo South) Bisi Ilaka (Oyo Central) and Akinwale Akinwole (Oyo North).
Reports have gathered that the House of Representatives candidates of PDP emerged through consensual arrangement except in some constituencies where indirect primaries were held.
Though the party claimed that the primaries we