Senator Jimoh Ibrahim and Folakemi Omogoroye, who were among the 15 aspirants that contested the April 20 primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo State, have denounced the alleged irregularities recorded during the exercise.
The two aspirants, who called for the cancellation of the outcome of the exercise, described the shadow election as a ‘robbery’ and an electoral exercise marred by irregularities.
Kicking against the process, Ibrahim and Omogoroye, who filed their petition to the Appeal Committee set up by the party for the primary, emphasised that the primaries fell short of the standards expected of an electoral process.
Omogoroye, who specifically called for the cancellation of the last Saturday election, urged the committee chairman to order a fresh election as the whole process was compromised.
“I am urging you to cancel the election and order a fresh election in which all the laid-down guidelines for a credible election will be followed.
“A level playing field will be assured and ensured for all players in the election. Anything short of this is an open endorsement of the robbery of Saturday by the leadership of our party,” she said.
Ibrahim, in his appeal for the cancellation of the election, argued that “there was no election in the 203 wards.”
Pushing for the cancellation on four grounds, he said: “I paid the sum of N100 million for the validation of over 40, 000 party members, and those members were not allowed to be revalidated across Ondo State. This was because no voter register was made available in the wards where members could be validated.
“On ground two, on the provision of electoral materials, no electoral materials were provided for the conduct of the election.
“The local government electoral officials were kept in the hotel during the period of the election for several hours, and only result sheets were given to them. The ward electoral officers were provided by one of the aspirants, Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa.
“Ground three is the non-accreditation of agents. My agents were not accredited in all the wards, and they did not sign the election result sheet since none was made available to them.
“The fourth ground is gross misconduct. I received in my house in the village of Igbotako at 7 pm on the day of the election the local government returning officer and members of his committee.
“They informed me that they were in my house to capture my vote, but I sent them away since my house is not a polling venue. The returning officer said he was instructed from above.
“Based on the grounds stated above, the election should be cancelled and re-conducted immediately.”