The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State may not participate in the November 16, 2024 gubernatorial election in the state as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Electoral Officers have declared that the party failed to conduct governorship primary election on April 20, 2024 in the state.
Reports submitted by the INEC Electoral Officers, who were detailed to monitor the APC governorship primary election across the 18 local government areas of the state, returned a verdict of no primary election in the designated Registration Areas.
According to some reports in circulation signed and submitted by the individual Electoral Officers which were received by one Dimas F. Emmanuel, ACLO, INEC headquarters, Abuja, dated 30 April, 2024, the Electoral Officers revealed that the party provided no election material at the party’s designated polling units.
They revealed that although members of the party came out en mass to perform their civic rights, they were disappointed as there were no election material and the election committee which ought to conduct the election did not show up.
According to Mrs. Abai C.O, the INEC Electoral Officer, who monitored Ifedore Local Government Area, she stated that, “the election of All Progressives Congress Governorship Primary was not held in the venue due to the unavailability of the election materials to be used and the absence of the Electoral organising committee in all the 10 Registration Areas till Monitoring Team left late in the evening.”
In her report, Mrs. Owogbo O.O., the INEC Electoral Officer for Akoko South-East Local Government Area: “In some of the Wards, the electorates arranged themselves in queues according to the number of contestants with representatives, counted the number of the electorates, but their efforts were rendered inconsequential as there were no election materials deployed for the conduct of the election.”
She gave the statistics of the Wards she wrote her reports on to include Epinmin I and Epinmin II Ifira, Ipe I, Ipe II, Ipesi, Isua I, Isua II, Isua III and Isua IV.
In Ilaje Local Government Area of the state, where the incumbent Governor Aiyedatiwa hails from, Okeniyi Bayo Fatai, the INEC Electoral Officer, who monitored the local government explained that, “the party members in the Local Government all converged at the designated venues to exercise their civic responsibilities.
“Although INEC monitors were present in all wards for the assignment, but the event was characterized by non-availability of election materials across the 12 RAs in the LGA.
“In view of the above, Election did not take place in Ilaje LGA and results were not given to the monitors.”
Meanwhile, the APC Governorship Primary Election Committee led by Usman Ododo, th3 Governor of Kogi State, had declared Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa winner of the party’s primary election purportedly conducted on April 20 and April 21, 2024.
Governor Aiyedatiwa was said to have polled 2,533 out of 3,831 valid votes in Akoko South-East.
He also was declared to have won Ilaje, his local government with 2,485 out of the 7,213 valid votes.
Other 15 governorship aspirants on the platform of APC had cried foul, saying the party’s primary election never held.
None of the other contestants was able to vote for themselves in the purported primary election.
A video clip in circulation revealed that Governor Aiyedatiwa could not vote in his Ilaje Local Government Area as well.
Olusola Oke, SAN, Wale Akinterinwa, Sen. Jimoh Ibrahim, Olugbenga Edema, Diran Iyantan, Prof. Faduyile Francis, Engr. Ife Oyedele and others insisted there was no election on April 20 as claimed by the Ododo-led Governorship Primary Election Committee.
