Two aspirants, namely senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Jimoh Ibrahim, and Engr. Folakemi Omogoroye, have also petitioned the national secretariat All Progressives Congress (APC) over alleged irregularities in last Saturday’s primary election for the Ondo State governorship election.
Recall that former finance commissioner, Wale Akinterinwa, a serving House of Representatives member, Hon. Jimi Odimayo, and Barrister Gbenga Edema, had on Monday petitioned the party over the outcome of the exercise.
The two aspirants, who joined their colleagues in kicking against the process and outcome of the exercise, noted that it was marred with irregularities and fell short of appreciable standards.
The aspirants described the process as an anticlimax, a mockery of democracy, and a complete negation of every known democratic tenant
Omogoroye called for the cancellation of last Saturday’s election, urging the committee chairman to order a fresh election as the whole process was compromised.
Her words: “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 and a level playing ground 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.
In his petition, Ibrahim hinged his appeal for cancellation of the election on four grounds which include non-compliance with the rules, non-provision of electoral materials, non-accreditation of agents and gross misconduct.
In his petition, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, said: “This is an appeal to your committee to cancel the Primary election held in Ondo state on 20th April 2024 on the ground that there was no election in the 203 wards and this is evidenced from the many petitions before your committee as captured on the ground below.
“Ground One non-compliance with your rules, I paid the sum of N100m for the validation of over 40 thousand party members and those members were not allowed to be revalidated across Ondo State, this was because no voters register was made available in the wards to which members could be validated
“On ground two on provision of electoral materials 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 Lucky Ayedatiwa.
“Ground three 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 on gross misconduct.
I received in my house in the village, Igbotako at 7 pm on the day of 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 four grounds stated above, the election should be cancelled and re-conducted immediately,” he said.