Oke Petitions APC Over Ondo Primary Election

One of the aspirants on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke (SAN), has joined others to petition the national secretariat of the party over alleged irregularities.
Oke, who lost in the last Saturday’s primary election of the party, described the primary election as, ”a nullity, non-existent, a charade and a total concoction same having not been conducted in compliance with the law and applicable regulations/guidelines.”

Five of the 15 aspirants who included former finance commissioner, Wale Akinterinwa, a member of the House of Representatives , Hon. Jimi Odimayo, Barrister Gbenga Edema, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim and Engr. Omogoroye had on Monday and Tuesday petitioned the party over the outcome of the exercise.

Oke, in his petition signed by his counsel, Oluwaseyi Bamigboye, however, said “the primary election is a nullity having been organised, superintendent and supervised by Abdullahi Ganduje against a valid, binding and subsisting order of Kano State High Court by which he was restrained from performing the functions of the office of National Chairman of the APC at all times material to the conduct of the primary Election.”

The senior lawyer further stated that the primary election was not conducted as prescribed by law and the APC Constitution and Nomination Guidelines.

Oke listed the particular Infractions to include including absence of the validated membership register; failure to deploy electoral personnel to the venues prescribed for each ward and each local government; failure to distribute electoral materials to local governments and Wards venues where elections were to be held and election results collated. The prescribed procedure for voting is an Open Secret Ballot not adopted (paragraph 22(iii)(2), members shall assemble at their respective wards and vote by Open Secret Ballot (Option A4).”

“Others are failure to display the membership register, No accreditation of financial members; change of venues without notice non-accreditation of aspirants’ agents and election not conducted, yet results generated and allocated by returning officers camped in Hotel in Akure, the results declared were not the products of any election, wild spread violence and wild spread corruption.”

He, however, prayed the committee “to set aside primary election for being a nullity, flawed, having been conducted against the order of court, lis pendens and without compliance with relevant provisions of laws and APC Constitution and Guidelines.”