A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Farouq Aliyu, has attributed the party’s defeat in the Osun State governorship election to internal disagreements among its members.

Aliyu said some APC members were unhappy with the party’s candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, and allegedly refused to support his campaign, contributing to the party’s defeat at the polls.

Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Monday, Aliyu said the APC did everything within its capacity to win the election but acknowledged that internal divisions affected its performance.

He said the party was still reviewing the outcome of the election to understand the factors responsible for its defeat.

“We did our best. I mean, we did what we thought could make us win the election, but of course, here and there, at the back end, we’re discussing to see the details of really what has happened.

Aliyu said the APC had made significant efforts to secure victory and also commended the Federal Government for its role in the electoral process.

“We did everything, everything possible, humanly possible, to win the election, and kudos also to our government. I mean, the federal government in such a way that all the political pundits who thought that APC was going to just take it, and APC was just going to write the results and so on, things happened the way they did, and Osun people decided they wanted Accord party, and so be it.”

The APC chieftain, however, identified internal wrangling and dissatisfaction with the party’s candidate as a major factor behind the defeat.

“You know there’s a lot of internal wranglings amongst our members. You know, in Osun State, there are people who were not happy with our candidate, which is true. Some people were happy with the candidate.

He suggested that the party should reconsider its candidate-selection process to ensure that candidates chosen for future elections enjoy wider support among party members.

“So, in terms of choice of candidate, probably that’s what we have to look at to make sure that probably the person who has the largest followership amongst the party members is put up for election.”

Aliyu further alleged that some APC members deliberately withheld their support because they were dissatisfied with Oyebamiji.

“Certainly some members of our party did not do what they are supposed to do because out of anger, really they didn’t like their candidate.

“So that’s the major problem internally that we had. It’s amongst us.”

He said the APC would need to address its internal divisions and improve its candidate-selection process ahead of future elections.

APC lost the Osun governorship election to the Accord Party, with incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke securing re-election with a wide margin.