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Ekiti 2022: APC has no credible candidate; governorship primary ruse, aspirant insists

The APC aspirant is one of seven others who alleged that Thursday’s governorship primary was hijacked and called for its cancellation.

• January 28, 2022
Kayode Ojo

Kayode Ojo, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Ekiti, has accused his party of conducting a fraudulent governorship primary election in the state.

“For now, I can confirm to you that the APC has no legal and credible candidate in Ekiti. By the results, one could attest to the fact that those figures were fake, concocted by the committee to suit their purpose,” Mr Ojo said while addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. 

He said what the Governorship Primary Election Committee did with the conduct of the exercise in Ekiti was a complete disgrace to APC.

The aggrieved APC aspirant was one of seven others who alleged that Thursday’s governorship primary was hijacked and called for its cancellation.

“What we witnessed in Ekiti on Thursday and the day preceding the election showed that the election had been compromised even before it was conducted.

“With this, it was clear that the committee was not in Ekiti for a credible poll, but to see to the emergence of the anointed aspirant,” he said.

Mr Ojo said that majority of the people used as Returning Officers were members of the APC state executives, appointees of government and elected party members, who are stooges and parts of the campaign council.

“The election committee asked us to nominate 20 people to be used as Returning Officers, up till now, we did not see where our lists were included, the original list was not updated.

“Those we gave to them were not posted to where they would monitor elections,” he said.

Describing the conduct of the election as unethical, Mr Ojo said “nobody has won any election here in Ekiti. We all reject this craziness.”

The Mohammed Badaru Abubakar-led seven-man Ekiti Governorship Primary Election had in a statement signed by its Secretary, Victor Olabimtan, on Thursday night, denied the allegation that the election was hijacked.

Biodun Oyebanji, the former Secretary to the Government of Ekiti, was declared the winner of Thursday’s governorship primary, with a vote of 101,703. 

(NAN)

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