APC cancels Ondo governorship primary election

Rotimi Akeredolu APC governorship candidate

– All Progressives Congress (APC) appeal committee set up for the Ondo state governorship primary election has cancelled the election that produced Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as the governorship candidate

– The committee recommended that a rerun primary should be held immediately

The All Progressives Congress (APC) appeal committee set up for the Ondo state governorship primary election has cancelled the election that produced Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as the governorship candidate.

The committee recommended that a rerun primary should be held immediately to beat the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Committee (INEC).

According to a report by Nation newspaper, the committee directed the party leadership to come up with a properly harmonised list acceptable to all contenders should be compiled, adding that the delegates’ list should be released, not on the eve of the primary, but much earlier to give sufficient time for the take-off of elections and avoid being used in favour of any aspirant.

It pointed out that although there was substantial compliance with rules during the primary, “that consideration may not be sufficient reason to ignore such serious and weighty, identified irregularities”.

The panel suggested that the party’s national leadership should revert to the earlier delegates’ list, distributed to aspirants in Abuja shortly before the controversial primary.

“In view of the change mantra of this administration, it is pertinent that the party blazes the trail by refusing to condone a less than perfect exercise. We, therefore, formally submit our recommendations for the National Working Committee (NWC) to use its discretionary powers in line with the APC constitution and the Electoral Act to arrive at a final decision,” the committee said.

The committee said it received six petitions with three complaints coming from three aspirants; Chief Olusola Oke, Dr. Olusegun Abraham and Prof. Ajayi Boroffice; the Chairman of Ondo Central APC, Mr. Adegboyega Adedipe, his Ondo East counterpart, Mr. Akintunde Temitope, and Mrs. Toyin Ajinde, a delegate.

The appeal committee said “the late distribution, the aspirant claimed, didn’t afford them sufficient time to lobby delegates. The situation was further compounded by the appearance of strange names of persons they couldn’t easily locate.”

“Equally disturbing is the public perception of the primary. there have been so many negative reports on this exercise all over the print, electronic and social media…A party founded on a platform of due process and which prides itself with zero tolerance for corruption and fraud, cannot be seen to condone illegality.”

Recall that major forces within the party have split the party into three major factions ahead of the 2019 election.

The APC has split into Bola Tinubu camp, Abuja group and Buhari loyalists as the various camps checkmate each other over who controls the party.