There were protests against the outcome of the ongoing primaries of some major political parties in some parts of the country on Saturday.
In Imo State, the wife of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State and senatorial aspirant for Imo East senatorial district, Betty, accused the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, of hijacking the primaries. The first lady, who stormed the party secretariat in company with her security aides and supporters, told journalists she would resist all attempts by the state governor to announce one of the aspirants as the winner of the primary.
She added, “They called us and asked us to step down for one unpopular aspirant and I said no, that the processes must go on and there must be an election. You can’t do that to people like us in the 21st century. The people are ready to vote for me.
“I therefore call on the National Chairman of the APC (Senator Abdullahi Adamu) not to accept any name from Imo East as the senatorial candidate. The primary has not been held. You can see that the delegates are still waiting while they have smuggled in a name as the winner of an imaginary primary election. You can’t write figures, declare somebody the winner when there was no election.”
When contacted, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, said the governor had no hand in party primaries.
Also, a member of the House of Representatives from Oyo State, Mr Shina Peller, and three other senatorial aspirants for Oyo North Senatorial District on the APC platform have protested against the change of the venue of the primary election to a private property. The other aspirants are Saheed Alaran, Chief Sola Ogunbode and Mrs Adeola Adeboyin.
They told journalists at Iseyin District Grammar School that the primary election was billed to hold at the school but it had been secretly shifted to the private building of a former local government chairman in Iseyin. They said only a serving senator, Fatai Buhari, was present at the new venue, which they described as illegal.
Peller said, “All the delegates are here with their cards since 10am and all the aspirants for House of Representatives and Senate are all here except a serving senator. But to our surprise, we were briefed that there is another Kangaroo primary election going on in one hotel along Oyo-Iseyin Road. We moved to the venue and it’s unfortunate that we met them there with some unaccredited delegates as well as fake ballot papers, and accreditation tags that have no passports. This is absolutely wrong.”
In Edo State, the senator representing Edo North senatorial district, Francis Alimikhena, who is eyeing a third term in the Senate has resigned his membership of the APC, citing high-level injustice and undemocratic practices within the party.
He was to contest the ticket with former national chairman of the party and former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole.
A statement by the senator’s media aide, Ben Atu, said democratic consolidation would continue to elude the country with such practices. He added, “I can assure you that even if Senator Alimikhena joins a party that is created today and you fix an election in Edo North within the next 24 hours, he will win.”
Obiano: Thugs disrupt Anambra North senatorial primary
The Anambra North Senatorial District primary election of the All Progressives Grand Alliance has been postponed as thugs invaded the Anambra East Local Government Area in Otuocha, the venue of the election. The thugs also took over the vicinity around the area and held some party officials hostage.
Anambra North is the constituency of the former first lady of the state, Mrs Ebele Obiano.
While some members of the party blamed the former governor’s wife for the fracas, other party members blamed a certain federal house member for causing the disruption.
Ondo Rep calls for result cancellation
The lawmaker representing Akure South/Akure North Federal Constituency and aspirant in the primary of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Mayokun Alade-Lawson, has called for the cancellation of the primary held in Akure, the state capital, on Friday.
Alade-Lawson lost the election to Mr Derin Adesida, having scored 65 votes while the latter polled 44 votes.
The lawmaker, who was elected into the Green Chamber in February, 2020 through a by-election, explained that the process was disrupted by political thugs when he was already winning the primary.
“As you can see, my agent was beaten and taken away only to find him almost wounded. Even me, I had to run for my life to avoid stray bullets. As we have it, there was no election and we are hopeful to have a re-run soon,” he added.
But the winner, Adesida, who is also a former House of Representatives member, said there was no need for repeating the election because the election was free and fair and he was declared winner after the disruption by the thugs ended.
Delegates protest authenticity of delegate list in Niger
Delegates of Chanchaga federal constituency primary election in the APC on Saturday accused the party executives of changing the delegate list to favour a candidate.
The delegates who spoke under the auspices of Unity Mega Group accused the party executives of working to favour a son of a former military president.
Abdulkadir Zubairu, who spoke at a press briefing in Minna, the state capital, stated that the party had produced more than ten doctored lists in less than one week for the Chanchaga constituency seat at the House of Representatives, adding that all the changes were done to favour an unpopular aspirant.
Meanwhile, the immediate past Senior Special Assistant to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday led aggrieved members of party in protest against the declaration of billionaire businessman, Akanimo Udofia, as the winner of the party’s gubernatorial primary in Akwa Ibom State.
Udofia who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC, scored a total of 1,227 to defeat eight other governorship contenders including Enang.
Enang told journalists in Uyo that Udofia had never been a member of the APC, adding that he was recently defeated in the PDP primary.
Confusion over non-disclosure of Osun APC primary official results
There was brewing tension in Osun State over the delay in the release of official primary election results.
The state had opted for direct primary which enabled all party members holding valid membership cards to vote for the aspirants of their choice at each ward collation centre of the 332 wards in the state.
As of Saturday evening, official results of the state Assembly primaries held on Thursday were yet to be released.
Also, results of the House of Representatives primary held on Friday were still being expected even as elections to pick senatorial candidates were being held.
delayed release of the results has however not deterred supporters of various aspirants from congratulating the aspirants. Conflicting results were also circulated across social media platforms awarding victories to different aspirants.
Secretary of a Congress Committee set up by the APC in the state to assist groups sent by the national secretariat of the party to conduct the primary, Mr Sunday Akere, told our correspondent, “The results are coming in. The committee in charge of the state Assembly primary will announce the results in full.
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