3 Aspirants Petition APC Hqrts Over Ondo Gov’ship Primary

Three of the sixteen aspirants who contested the weekend’s primary of the Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC) have petitioned the Appeal Committee set up by the national secretariat to resolve disputes arising from the conduct of the exercise.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa was declared the winner of the party’s primary election after polling 48, 569 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Akinfolarin Mayowa who scored 15, 343, votes.

The governor also beat Chief Olusola Oke who scored 14,915 votes, and Senator Jimoh Ibrahim who polled 9,456 votes to come third and fourth respectively.

The Appeal Committee however confirmed that it has received petitions from three aggrieved aspirants who expressed dissatisfaction over the election.

The aspirants include former Finance Commissioner, Wale Akinterinwa, a serving House of Representatives member, Hon. Jimi Odimayo and Barrister Gbenga Edema.

In their petition, the aspirants asked the APC national leadership to urgently cancel the election and order a rerun.

However, the head of the five-member Primary Election Appeal Committee and former Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar (SAN), informed, that the committee was set up to ensure transparency and integrity of the primary election.

Revealing the contents of the petitions in parts, Abubakar disclosed that the aggrieved aspirants complained that the primary did not hold across the 203 electoral wards, and claim that the process was marred by irregularities.

His words: “So far, we have received three petitions; one from Olugbenga Edema, Omoba Jimmy Odimayo and the last one from Adewale Akinterinwa after the conclusion of the primary and declaration of the candidate of the party.

“The situation I met on the ground was an inconclusive election that needed to be repeated in one local government. They were able to repeat the election in that local government and by early this morning, they were able to declare the results of the primary.

“It is traditional in APC to set up a committee like this to follow up on the fallout of the primary election. It’s as a result of this, that I invited the gentlemen of the press to be here today so that I can announce to them, the presence of this committee and the readiness of this committee to receive whatever complaints as a fallout from the primary election.

He said the committee would be expecting more petitions from any other aggrieved aspirants between Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

According to him, the secretary of the committee, Obiocha Israel, would be available at the temporary office in Akure within two days to receive the petition.

“The committee will be here till on Tuesday to collect whatever complaints that may be. Let me use this opportunity to assure members of our party that this committee intends to be thorough and transparent in treating any complaint that we receive.

“I can assure you that within a space of a few days, we will consider the total number of petitions we received and render a report to the national headquarters of our party before the party takes a final decision on the issue of the primary.

“I am calling on all the aspirants that have complaints to please, feel free to forward them to us. We have since established our office at the headquarters of the party for the collection of these appeals if there are,” he said.

Abubakar who promised to be fair in treating the petitions, noted that his team would on