By: Rukiyat Ogunwade and AbdulBasit Dosumu
Aggrieved members of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Oyo State on Tuesday staged a protest in Ibadan over the alleged imposition of candidates and the recent uploading of Adegboyega Adegoke’s name to the INEC portal.
The protesters, who support one of the party’s gubernatorial aspirants, Dr Gbemileke Alagbe, popularly known as “Eleniyan”, had also staged a protest last week.
The protesters first gathered at Iwo Road singing solidarity songs and carrying banners with inscriptions such as “National executives and INEC, give us our mandate in Oyo State ADC”, Adegoke, Aregbesola and INEC pledge our list, judiciary protect our mandate”, Give back our mandate now”, “No to electoral injustice”.
“We voted for Alagbe, not Adegoke, the voice of the people must be heard” and “INEC! Let’s defend democracy,” he said.
From Iwo Road, they marched to the premises of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State, BCOS, and later to the state secretariat of the party in Mokola, Ibadan, demanding fair electoral justice.
Addressing journalists at the BCOS gate, one of the protesters, James Obasa, accused the ADC national secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, of hand-picking candidates after the primaries had taken place.
He said: “We are here to let the world know about the injustice done to our candidate, Dr. Gbemileke Alagbe, by INEC and the party’s national secretary, Rauf Aregbesola. We held a primary on May 22, 2026, and INEC monitored the elections. They wrote their report and gave us a copy. But unfortunately, Aregbesola filled out the EC9 form for Adegboyega Adegoke, who is not a member of the party. This protest It is necessary to let the world know that Alagbe is the only candidate of the party.
“The protest is against the injustice whereby loyal members of our party who bought forms and were tested have been sidelined by anointed candidates. That is not democracy,” he added.
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In response, the Publicity Secretary of ADC in Oyo State, Bimpe Adelowo, who received the complaint letter from the aggrieved members, acknowledged that members of the party voted during the primary elections.
He urged the aggrieved members to remain peaceful and assured them that their grievances would be forwarded for action.
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