Ondo APC guber hopefuls reject primary poll

The campaign organisation of Olusola Oke has described the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state as a “sham”.

On Saturday, the APC conducted its governorship primary election to select its flagbearer for the November 16 election in Ondo state.

Oke is one of the top contenders in the the primary election

Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi, is the chairman of the seven-member committee overseeing the Ondo APC governorship primary.

In a statement, Ojo Oyewamide, spokesperson of the Olusola Oke campaign organisation, claimed that the primary election did not take place.

Oyewamide alleged that the election officers were known supporters of a particular aspirant.

He added that many of the APC members who came out for the “shadow” election “queued in the sun till 3pm to vote without any election materials in sight”.

“The truth is that no primary election was conducted. What happened in all the 203 wards in Ondo state can be described as a sham. It defies all descriptions of decency and democratic conduct,” the statement reads.

“It is our observation that members of the Ododo-led primary election committee, constituted to conduct the nomination exercise, merely simulated active functionality by taking a late “stroll” out of their hotel rooms.

“The primary election materials were not distributed to the 203 wards across the State, as expected and assured by the election committee. Members of APC, who are eligible to vote for their preferred aspirants, did not have the opportunity to do so. Many of them queued in the sun till 3:00 pm, waiting for the conduct of the shadow poll.

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 “At another instance, regrettably enough, the election officers that were to conduct the exercise in the wards are known supporters of one of the aspirants.

“These people were kept in one hotel where they were to perpetrate all sorts of evil, to compromise the process of choosing the candidate of our party.”

The campaign office alleged that many supporters of other aspirants were chased away from designated voting centres by political thugs.

Also reacting to the primary election, Gbenga Edema, one of the aspirants, called for the postponement of the election until “things were put in place”.

Edema expressed displeasure over the delay in the release of electoral materials.

He noted that it was contrary to the agreement reached during the stakeholders’ meeting on Friday.

“As I’m speaking to you at past 10 a.m., no electoral materials have been distributed,” he said.

“We are not people that could be manipulated by godfathers. So, we are asking our national leadership that if they are not ready, they should postpone it until the right thing is done.”

Also speaking, Sola Ajisafe, who represented Wale Akinterinwa, another aspirant, said there was no election held in the state.

He called for the rescheduling of the election, noting that Ododo’s failure to follow due process was an “anti-democratic process”.

“My people have been calling me that no single material has been distributed in their wards,” Ajisafe said.

“What is playing out here is a connivance and agreement by governor Ododo to short-change the people of the state and reduce our capacity to choose our leader.