Following the conduct of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in Ondo State, some gubernatorial aspirants rejected the outcome.
Information Nigeria reports that the primary election was supervised by Usman Ododo, Governor of Kogi State.
The Saturday election was conducted in 203 wards of the State ahead of the November 16 gubernatorial poll.
One of the aspirants, Gbenga Edema, while speaking with journalists in Akure called for the postponement of the election until “things were put in place.”
Expressing displeasure over the delay in the release of electoral materials, henoted 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 told us that the accreditation would start between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and that voting would commence by 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
“But what we are hearing now is that the election has been concluded and the result announced.
“We asked the chairman, but he had no answer to our questions.
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“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,” he said.
Sola Ajisafe, who represented aspirant Wale Akinterinwa, declared 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.
“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.
“We are saying that they should reschedule another election because this election did not even hold.
“This is another form of failure. Ododo has not performed his responsibility concerning this election. This is an anti-democratic process,” Ajisafe said.
Rotimi Ogunleye, who spoke on behalf of Olusola Oke, another aspirant, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the exercise.
“I want to inform President Bola Tinubu, because he is our leader, that the men sent to conduct this election are not following the guidelines,” Ogunleye said.
Paul Oniyemofe, who represented Dayo Faduyile, another aspirant, described the election as a “day light robbery”, and asked for a reschedule of the poll.
