Abayomi urges INEC to disqualify Oke

Candidate pledges to develop riverine communities
The runner-up in the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s primary, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disqualify Olusola Oke as candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

Abayomi, who spoke in Akure said Oke and his running mate, Gani Daudu, were not eligible to contest as the party’s candidates.

According to him, they did not participate in the primary held by the AD as stipulated by the constitution.

He explained that Oke collected the party’s nomination forms through a back-door arrangement, which was against the Electoral Act as amended.

Abayomi enjoined the INEC to disqualify them for the non-compliance with the electoral law, citing the 2015 Kogi State governorship election as precedent.

He said: “Nobody can contest an election in the country unless he or she is a member of a political party. In the case of Oke and his deputy, they never participated nor were they elected in a primary. Oke can only be a candidate of the APC where he contested but didn’t win in the primary.

“The Electoral Act states that he must be elected in a primary by members of the AD. A party is not allowed to nominate a candidate without participating in the party’s primary.”

Abayomi added that the candidacy of Oke and Dauda was borne out of their inordinate ambition and outright disrespect for the Act.

He said: “James Faleke’s case in Kogi State did not stand because he did not go through the primary and was not voted for by members of the party. So under the law, Oke and his deputy are not qualified to contest the election.”

He faulted INEC for publishing Oke as one of the eligible candidates in the November election, noting that it neither attended nor supervised the primary that produced him as a candidate.

But the Director-General of the Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, Mr. Bola Ilori, said INEC’s publication of Oke was a proof that he was eligible to contest the election.

Ilori said his nomination followed the due processes.

According to him: “Abayomi is not a member of the AD and has no right to be interfering in the affairs of our party. He should face the internal problems in his party, the APC.”

Meanwhile, Oke has promised to develop the riverine communities in the state if elected.

He spoke in Agadagba Obon and Arogbo communities in Ese Odo Local Council areas at his campaign rallies.

According to him, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) would be empowered to redress the neglect associated with oil-rich areas.
 
Oke added that he would ensure that the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) becomes more active in the provision of life-transforming projects in the area.


He urged the people to vote for the AD so that the wheel of progress would not be retarded.