Aggrieved members of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Ondo State on Sunday besieged the party secretariat to demand cancellation of the governorship primary election held on Saturday.
They also called for the suspension of Kogi State governor, Ahmed Ododo, whose seven-man committee supervised the exercise.
The calls were made by the supporters of one of the governorship aspirants of the party, Olusola Oke.
The APC primary held on Saturday in the 203 wards of the state was marred with alleged discrepancies, non-availability of election materials and violence.
The protesters carried with placards 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 APC primary election in Ondo” and “We’re calling for a fresh primary election” among others.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Director General, Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, in Ondo Central Senatorial District, Adeniran Oyebade, said no primary election took place in wards in the state.
Mr Oyebade explained that the primary, claimed to have been conducted by the Mr Ododo-led committee, was a sham against the will of party members.
He said, “Ododo should be suspended from the party. Election crime is a serious crime and Ododo cannot come to the wards of our people and start terrorising them against their will. What we want is the cancellation of the election because no election took place. There is no need to say that the election was inconclusive.’’
He described the primary as a daylight robbery, stressing that the committee only wrote the results of the primary and never conducted the exercise.
Saying the committee with its action was about to set the state on fire, Mr Oyebade said the people would not accept the result declared by Mr Ododo.
He said, “It was a broad-daylight 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 the results of 203 wards all across Ondo State, taking the mandate of the people into their own hands.”
He claimed that no ward primary was held, insisting that the guidelines given by the national secretariat of the party were not followed as the committee did not distribute materials to any wards.
He stated, “At the end of the day, we started seeing different results flying around stating one particular candidate won the election, but that never happened. We want the most popular candidate, a candidate that knows the people; we want the candidate whose name is a household brand in every part of Ondo State.’’
Recall that the Kogi State governor had said the primary was transparent and credible, noting that the party would produce its candidate for the election.
“I have received reports from our committee members and security agencies as well as NGOs monitoring the election including video footage. I can say that the process has been transparent and we are going to produce a candidate that will unify the APC ahead of the November 2024 governorship election in the state,” he said.
16 governorship aspirants jostled for the party’s ticket during the exercise.
[The Gazette]
