Five Kwara State aspirants for the House of Representatives in the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun constituency have rejected the last Saturday exercise.

They jointly alleged widespread irregularities and the absence of a due and credible electoral process.

Consequently, they urged the public to disregard any result peddled on the social media handles, describing it as a determined machination to undermine President Bola Tinubu’s sworn oath to deepen democracy in Nigeria, as well as the party’s integrity and essence.

The APC chieftains said they had already approached the party’s appeal committee, the National Working Committee (NWC) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for likely redress.

They sought: “If this election will stand, then it must be done democratically. The rules and regulations are in the party constitution. We have gone to the appeal committee and now we are appealing to the APC’s NWC and the President to look into the matter and attend to our complaints.”

According to them, only the party’s national office can announce valid results, noting that fake results and scores were being circulated on social media by individuals attempting to legitimise a nonexistent process.

“Going by what is circulating on social media, some unscrupulous elements are spreading fake news by giving results and scores to some aspirants. That is laughable in our great party,” they said.

The aspirants at a joint press conference on Tuesday, accused some compromised party officials of conducting “flawed, condemnable and unacceptable exercise that failed to reflect democratic standards across the federal constituency.”

According to Ademola Adebayo Samad of Ifelodun-Ora, no proper election was conducted in many wards within the constituency, disclosing that the process was characterised by “confusion, protests and manipulation.”

“The reason why we are here this afternoon is to appeal to our great party, the APC, and the NWC over the conduct of the House of Representatives primary election that took place on May 16,” Samad said.

“It doesn’t matter who could have won; our major concern is the democratic process. Know that across the Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun Federal Constituency, no election took place. There were irregularities across board and protests in several places,” he explained.

He appealed to the APC National Working Committee (NWC), the Kwara State leadership of the party and Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to intervene by investigating those responsible for the controversy surrounding the primary.

He said the aspirants were prepared to accept any lawful option adopted by the party, including rerun or consensus arrangement, provided it complied with the laid-down procedures and party guidelines.

“If the party wants to redo the election, we are ready. If they want to go by consensus, there are laid down principles and guidelines to follow,” he said.

Also, Akeem Ishola Balogun from Oja Ward II, Igbaja in Ifelodun local government, faulted “an alleged consensus arrangement adopted by the party.”

Balogun hinted that they were not opposed to the party but were demanding fairness, inclusiveness and adherence to democratic principles.

“The issue is not about whether the seat is meant for one person or not. If the process had followed the rules and regulations laid down by the party, nobody would have complained,” he stated.

He argued that genuine consensus arrangements should involve consultations with all aspirants and stakeholders, rather than excluding interested contestants from the process.

“I have been with our president for many years and this has never been his style of leadership. If there is going to be a consensus, everybody must be invited and carried along. But in this case, we were made to feel like we were nobody,” Balogun added.

Dauda Olumuyiwa Patrick (Oro-Ago ward) declared that no election was held in any of the 41 wards, making the federal constituency, as his supporters had trooped out to exercise their rights, only to be denied access to electoral materials that never came.

According to him, his coordinator in Offa was allegedly beaten and hounded for raising his voice against what he called the obvious irregularity.

For Bello Ademola Joseph (Omupo ward), all hope to redress their experience rests on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the party and the governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, saying: “only they can correct the brazen and shameful disregard for democracy.”

Also, Ayodele Theophillus Apere from Shaare ward I said: “we are not pleased with the last Saturday primary, we observed neither of the two options given by the party was adhered to.

“We were directed to choose either direct or consensus, alas! In Kwara, we neither applied any but crook mean by denying due electoral processes,” he regretted.

The controversy is expected to heighten political tension within the APC in Kwara State as preparations gradually begin ahead of the 2027 general elections.