• Says exercise acharade, not in compliance with the guidelines, law
Another governorship aspirant in the just concluded primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, has filed a petition to the APC Primary Election Appeal Committee on the election.
With Oke’s petition, six aspirants of the party who participated in the exercise had petitioned the Appeal Committee put in place by the National Secretariat of the party.
Those who filed petitions include Wale Akinterinwa, Jimi Odimayo, Gbenga Edema, Funmi Omogoroye, Jimoh Ibrahim, and Olusola Oke.
Oke, in the petition forwarded to the Appeal Committee by his lawyer, Oluwaseyi Bamigboye, of OB Oluwaseyi Bamigboye & Co., described the election as a charade and not in compliance with the law and applicable regulations and guidelines of the party.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who premised his ground of the appeal, pointed out that the election was nullity, having been organised and supervised by the national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, who has been restrained by the Kano High Court.
Oke also alleged that the election was fraught with irregularities and marred with infractions, saying “The primary election was not conducted as prescribed by law and the APC Constitution and Nomination Guidelines.
The Counsel however, stated in the petition that: “The primary election is a nullity having been organised, superintended and supervised by HE, Abdullahi Ganduje against a valid, binding and subsisting order of Kano State High Court by which he was restrained from performing the functions of the office of National Chairman of the APC at all times material to the conduct of the Primary Election.
“The primary election was not conducted as prescribed by law and the APC Constitution and Nomination Guidelines.”
He stated that the infractions include the absence of a validated register, failure to deploy electoral personnel to the venues prescribed for each ward and each local government, failure to distribute electoral materials to local governments and ward venues where elections were to be held, and collation of election results.
“Also, the election failed to follow the prescribed procedure for voting, which is the open ballot not adopted (paragraph 22(iii)(2)), which states that Members shall assemble at their respective wards and vote by open secret ballot (Option A4).”
He stated other infractions to include: failure to display the membership register; no accreditation of financial members; change of venues without notice; and non-accreditation of aspirants’ agents.
“Elections were not conducted, yet results were generated and allocated by returning officers camped in the hotel in Akure, while the results declared were not the product of any election. There was widespread violence and corruption.
“Oral and documentary evidence shall be profiled in support of the above grounds, should there be an opportunity to do so.”
In his prayer, Oke, through his counsel, said that “the APC primary election in Ondo State purportedly conducted between April 20th and 22nd, 2024, be set aside for being a nullity, flawed, having been conducted against the order of the court, lis pendens, and without compliance with relevant provisions of laws and the APC Constitution and Guidelines.
“Since no valid declaration can be based on an invalid primary election, the committee is urged to recommend or direct the conduct of fresh primary to be conducted in line with applicable laws and guidelines.”
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