Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo state has emerged winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial primary for the November 16 election.
Aiyedatiwa, who succeeded late Rotimi Akeredolu in December, defeated 15 other contenders in the election which ran into the next day.
Aside from Aiyedatiwa, those who contested the election were Jimoh Ibrahim, Olusola Oke, Wale Akinterinwa, Diran Iyantan, Dayo Faduyile, Gbenga Edema, Jimi Odimayo and Isaac Kekemeke. Others include Olusoji Ehinlanwo, Olugbenga Edema, Funmilayo Waheed-Adekojo, Akinfolarin Samuel, Ohunyeye Felix and Morayo Lebi, Garvey Iyanjan and Judith Omogoroye, Ifeoluwa Oyedele.
According to Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State, Chairman of the 7-man Election Organising Committee, Aiyedatiwa polled a total of 48,569 votes, while his closest rival, Akinfolarin, garnered 15,343 votes. Oke, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), came third with 14,915 votes; Ibrahim polled 9,456 to place fourth, while Akinterinwa, who emerged fifth, secured 1,952 votes.
Meanwhile some of the aspirants have rejected the outcome of the election which aggrieved APC members described as a sham.During a protest at the party’s secretariat in Akure, Ondo capital, on Sunday, they demanded a fresh exercise over alleged electoral irregularities. The protesters had placards with inscriptions such as: “No election in Ondo State,” and “APC primary electoral officers failed to show up in all wards in Ondo State.”
Others are: “We Demand Fairness and Justice in APC Primary Election in Ondo State”, “APC Must Not Collapse In Ondo State,” and “Primary Election Materials Were not Distributed in all Wards.” The protesters, who were supporters of Olusola Oke, Wale Akinterinwa and Jimi Odimayo, called for fresh primary in the interest of peace.
Addressing journalists, the Director-General of Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, Ondo Central Senatorial District, Mr Adeniran Oyebade, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, described the election as a broad-day robbery.
“We are protesting against our mandate that was stolen. It was a broad-day 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 all the 203 wards in the State, taking the mandate of the people into their own hands.
“At the end of the day, we started seeing different results flying around stating one particular aspirant won the election, but that never happened. ”APC as a party is about to set Ondo State on fire, and we will never take this lightly. We want the most popular aspirant; an aspirant that knows the people; we want the aspirant whose name is a household brand in every part of Ondo State,” he said.
Oyebade called for the suspension of Gov. Usman Ododo of Kogi from the party. “Ododo should be suspended from the party. He is not fit for this kind of job. Electoral fraud is a serious crime. You cannot come to the wards of our people and start terrorizing them against their will. “What we want is the cancellation of the primary because election did not take place. There is no need to say that the election was inconclusive,” he lamented.
