Aspirant Calls for Cancellation of APC Senatorial Primary in Ekiti North

By Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

An All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial aspirant in the just concluded primaries in Ekiti State, Dr. Olusegun Osinkolu, has said the alleged concoction of results in favour of
candidates in the National Assembly by powerful individuals has dented President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against graft.

Osinkolu, who contested for the Senate ticket in Ekiti North senatorial district, alleged that the Dr Ibrahim Sule-led APC Committee on the National Assembly primary in the state allegedly messed up the whole process by fabricating results in Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi’s favour.

Adetumbi, who represented the district between 2011 and 2015 was declared winner of the primary in Ekiti North.

Stating that he rejected the primaries in its entirety, Osinkolu added that elections didn’t hold in Ikole, Moba and Ido/Osi Local Governments out of the five councils that constitute the district.

He thereby urged APC’s National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole to annul the primary and order a rerun of the exercise for Nigerians to take the change mantra of the party serious.

Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti Monday on the contentious primaries that had generated bad blood among the party members, the APC chieftain said he had given the party the best support in Ekiti and didn’t deserve to be treated in such a shabby and disrespectful manner.

Osinkolu stated that party members were humiliated by security agencies through sporadic shootings in Ikole, while old and young members queued for over 12 hours without seeing the collation officers sent to the wards by the committee.

He expressed displeasure that what Nigerians expected from the APC was a change in all facets, particularly in the way the party conducts its elections, which he said must be credible, lamenting that what some party members did in the primaries would go a long way in undermining President Buhari’s belief in a corrupt-free society.

Osinkolu maintained that the only alternative through which the party can approach the 2019 elections with a united front to be able to deliver for Buhari, is by annulling the outcome of the primary, he described as not only a charade but a product of poll robbery.

“The NWC made good preparations for these elections, only for desperate power seekers to hijack the process by cornering the committee sent to Ekiti and ensured they did their bidding.

“The Ekiti election in the North district was so worse to the extent that the committee brought photocopies to the wards to conduct elections, they hoarded the original result sheets. This was a shame to a party that prides itself of bringing change to the people.

“Apart from that, elections didn’t hold in many of the wards. Our people who had queued since 7pm got disappointed when they waited till around 6pm without seeing the collation officers in their
respective wards.

“But in a few places where elections were held, I have available evidence which I will present to NWC that I was winning. They stole my mandate and I am ready to retrieve it using every legal and constitutional means.

“But because of the enormous respect I have for our party leadership, I will explore internal mechanism to seek redress but if this fails, I won’t have any other option than to challenge the outcome in court.

“Let the party do its investigations thoroughly and find out where elections were not held and order a rerun in those areas or use the results of where polls were conducted to declare the actual winner. This remains the best way to stabilise our party and reinforce
Nigerians’ confidence in APC as a political party.

“It saddened one’s heart to see party leaders humiliating their followers in their unbridled quests for power. They must have a rethink else, they will end up destroying the party and render it impotent to be able to win elections.

“As a loyal party man, I will remain in APC and fight for my right. But the party shouldn’t carry its belief in supremacy to an extent where members would be forced to challenge some of its action.
Sustaining supremacy over party members can only be sustained when the party is fair, just and protect the interests of everybody,” he added.