The All Progressive Congress (APC) may disregard the result of the Ogun State governorship primaries recently held where House of Representatives member, Mr. Adekunle Akinlade, was declared winner by the chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the party, Chief Derin Adebiyi, in a parallel primary conducted on Tuesday this week.
Akinlade, the consensus candidate of the Yewa Elders Council and anointed candidate of the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, in a direct primary, polled 190,987 votes out of 201,620 valid votes cast across the 236 wards in the state.
But the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, speaking to journalists on Thursday in Abuja, maintained that such result cannot stand since it was not declared by chairman of the electoral committee panel appointed by the party in Abuja.
He said: “Primaries are not to be conducted by states governments. Primaries are to be conducted not by secretary to state governments; primaries are to be conducted not by states chairmen, primaries are to be conducted by the electoral panel.
The results of primaries are to be announced by the returning officer who chairs the panel sent to the state. That is the game. It is not a game of power. It’s a game of number. And God will give us the courage to do what we are supposed to do”.
Oshiomhole justified the decision to annul results of other primary elections held in some states of the federation, saying it was aimed at cleaning up the political process and ensure internal democracy reiterating the party’s resolve to conduct primary elections in Zamfara, Adamawa, FCT, Imo, and Edo states using the direct primary mode.
Meanwhile, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed a new committee to conduct Edo State Legislatives Primary election, The party also condemned the unauthorised primaries held in the state into the Senate, House of Representatives and the state House of Assembly.
In a press statement on Thursday, the party’s acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, said that the party totally condemned the exercise conducted by unauthorised persons in collaboration with the party’s State Working Committee, saying, “It’s hereby declared null and void”.
He said: “A primary election committee under the chairmanship of Hajia Farida Odangi Suleiman will be in Edo State later today (Thursday) to conduct the primaries into the Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly.
“The Committee will make available the list of aspirants screened for the exercise and will conduct a transparent primary election in accordance with the guidelines and constitution of the APC.
“We admonish all Party members in Edo state to cooperate with the Committee to ensure an orderly, peaceful, transparent and credible exercise”, he stated
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