Ondo APC primary: Party members were robbed, says Akinterinwa campaign office

The campaign organisation of Wale Akinterinwa has described the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state as a “show of shame.”

On Saturday, the APC conducted its primary election to select a flagbearer for the November 16 governorship poll in the state.

Akinterinwa is one of the top contenders in the primary election.

Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi, is the chairman of the seven-member committee overseeing the primary.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Segun Ajiboye, spokesperson of the Wale Akinterinwa campaign organisation, said the election is one of the most controversial primaries ever conducted by the ruling party.

He said members of the APC were “robbed and made to understand that their votes do not count”.

“Without any fear of contradiction, we state here that no election was held in any part of Ondo State on Saturday to elect the candidate of the APC. It is on record with incontrovertible evidence that nothing in the semblance of a primary election was held in all the 203 wards in Ondo state,” the statement reads.

“At best, what can be said to have happened was that the committee chairman, Governor Ododo, arrived in the state at about 8 am on Saturday to write the result of an election that was never conducted.

“Saturday’s election presented our dear party with a rare opportunity to endear itself to the people of the state. All that was needed was for us to organise an election that would be hailed by all, even the opposition. But we bungled the opportunity with the sham organised by the electoral committee.

“For them, a little display of decency by allowing the 203 wards’ election committees to pretend to do their job was a sheer waste of their precious time. Never before in the history of the APC have we witnessed anything close to what was put on display on Saturday.

“Saturday’s sham election will probably go down as one of the most controversial primary elections ever conducted by our party. The supportive and hardworking members of the APC were robbed and made to understand or believe that their votes do not count.”

The campaign office urged supporters to remain calm, law-abiding, and responsible while registering grievances.

The winner of the governorship primary is yet to be announced. The chairman of the organising committee had said election would take place on Sunday in Okitipupa LGA where the delay in the arrival of election materials affected the exercise on Saturday.