In the ongoing collation of votes for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Ondo State, incumbent Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa appears to be taking the lead.
The governor is among 16 candidates vying for the party’s nomination in a hotly contested race.
Despite not having an official announcement from the electoral committee, early results suggest Aiyedatiwa is ahead. The committee, chaired by Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo, is responsible for declaring the final outcome.
The primary election, which saw the participation of 171,922 accredited APC members across 203 wards, has been marred by allegations of irregularities and calls for cancellation from several candidates.
They claim that the voting process was fraught with fraud and that the electoral materials were not properly distributed.
Barrister Gbenga Edema, speaking for the dissenting aspirants, criticized the handling of the election materials and the overall conduct of the primaries.
“At the stakeholders meeting held at St. Thomas Event Centre, the secretary of that committee, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege said the collection of voting materials which include the membership register, and others will be distributed to the electoral officers whose names he announced to us in each of the 203 wards of Ondo State.
“That they should come to BON Hotel to collect the materials and that accreditation will start by 10 am, to be completed by 1p.m while voting proper will start by 1pm and end by 2pm, then the announcement of the results.
“As I am talking to you now, this is 10:40.am, we’ve been here since 6am, believing that our people will collect the materials but unfortunately, at about 9:30am, His Excellency Governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, came out to tell us that materials had been distributed. At what time? In what places? We don’t know!
“Unfortunately, for him, the returning officers and electoral officers of my ward, Mahin Ward II in Ilaje local government are here and unable to collect any material.
“What we are asking for is a credible election. So, we are asking the leadership of the party to look into this. If they’re not ready for this election, they should postpone it and the right thing should be done.”
