• APC members call for suspension of Ododo
• Rerun to hold in 13 wards
• Exercise, mockery of democracy, says PDP
Controversies and condemnations, yesterday, trailed the conduct of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries in the 203 political wards of the state.
Some governorship aspirants, who frowned on how the primaries were superintended by the Primary Election Committee, described the election as a sham, following widespread discrepancies as well as violence in some of the wards.
However, as of press time, the committee was yet to officially announce the result of the primaries that had 171,922, members of the party revalidated as bonafide voters.
On Saturday, the primaries were characterised by non-arrival of election materials in most parts of the wards as well as thugs having a field day during the exercise.
Following the development, the election was declared inconclusive by the committee over the non-arrival of materials in the 13 wards of Okitipupa Local Council, a situation that prompted the committee to reschedule the primary for Sunday in the affected wards.
Describing the shadow election as a sham that must not be allowed to stand, some members of the party that protested against the committee of the primary election called for the suspension of Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, who doubled as the chairman of the committee.
The protesters, who barricaded the secretariat of the party and stopped vehicular movement on the popular Oba Adesida-Oyemekun Road, said that the APC wanted to set the state on fire.
The protesters, who were supporters of Olusola Oke, Wale Akinterinwa and Jimi Odimayo, armed with placards of various inscriptions, such as “No election in Ondo,” “APC primary electoral officers failed to show up in all wards in Ondo State,” “We demand fairness and justice in the APC primary election in Ondo,” said that the process had been predetermined with the results written to favour the preferred aspirant.
Adeniran Oyebade, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, said: “We are protesting against our mandate that was stolen. It was a broad-day light robbery, a monumental disaster. APC delegated some people to Ondo State to conduct the primary; apparently, that was never done. They remained in Akure and started writing results. They wrote down the results of 203 wards all across Ondo State, taking the mandate of the people into their own hands.”
On her part, a female governorship aspirant, Folakemi Omogoroye, called for immediate cancellation of the election.
Omogoroye lamented the absence of election officials and voting materials at voting centres, rendering her and her supporters unable to exercise their rights to vote.
Also, the spokesperson of Wale Akinterinwa Campaign Organisation, Segun Ajiboye, alleged that the process had been predetermined with the results written to favour the preferred aspirant.
Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state described the governorship primaries as a charade.
In a statement by its Publicity Secretary in the state, Kennedy Peretei, the PDP said that the inability of the ruling party to properly conduct a hitch-free primary among the 16 aspirants in the state was a sign that the APC is not capable of ruling the country.
