APC Chieftain Gbenga Akinwande Decries Electoral Impunity Following Legal Challenge Against Ogun State Council Primary Process

Ogun APC chieftain Gbenga Akinwande discusses his legal challenge against the 2024 local government primaries and the impact of political impunity in Nigeria.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 28, 2026, 4:12 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from The Nation

The Burden of Civic Engagement in Local Governance

Gbenga Akinwande characterizes the current state of Nigerian politics as a deceptive yet necessary arena for those committed to community development. Drawing from his personal experiences and professional background abroad, the APC chieftain argues that remaining passive is unpatriotic when leadership fails to produce quality decisions. He contends that his aspiration for the Yewa North chairmanship was rooted in a vision to transform the locality into a wealthy, benchmark community, a goal he believes was stifled by a lack of critical thinking among the regional political elite.

Challenging Internal Party Impunity Through Litigation

The decision to approach the court was framed by Akinwande not as an act of hostility, but as a democratic dialogue intended to prevent a descent into anarchy. He expresses a profound sense of disappointment as a progressive democrat, alleging that the 2024 primary process was a direct violation of the APC constitution and the Electoral Act of 2022. According to Akinwande, the failure of senior party officials in Ogun State to uphold democratic standards mirrors the historical patterns of impunity that led to the political decline of previous ruling parties.

Procedural Failures and the Rise of Sole Administration

Under the Electoral Act of 2022, party candidates must emerge through consensus, direct primaries, or indirect primaries. Akinwande asserts that in the specific case of Yewa North, none of these legally recognized methods were utilized, effectively rendering the current local government chairman a sole administrator. This procedural bypass, he argues, undermines the legitimacy of the office and ignores the established democratic safeguards intended to ensure representative leadership at the grassroots level.