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Two aspirants in the Ondo state governorship election primary, Mr Wale Akinterinwa and Chief Olusola Oke, have condemned the process of the election on Sunday.
The election was reportedly characterised with series of controversy as some aspirants’ drummed support for the cancellation of the poll.
The primaries held in 18 local government areas of the state was on Sunday declared by the head of the party’s organising committee and Governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, as inconclusive.
In a statement issued by the Wale Akinterinwa Campaign Organisation’s spokesman, Mr Segun Ajiboye, the organisation described the exercise as a show of shame, saying the Ododo-led committee did not do well in the conduct of the shadow poll.
According to the statement in part, “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.
“At best, what can be said to have happened was that the committee chairman, Governor Ododo, arrived in the state at about 8am 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. We dashed the hopes and expectations of a robust democratic engagement.”
In the same vein, the Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, in a statement issued by its spokesman, Mr Ojo Oyewamide, on Sunday, said the primary was a mockery of democracy.
“We insist that what happened in Ondo State yesterday (Saturday ) was a disheartening mockery of democracy. As a result, our party has become a boot of jokes in the hands of the opposition parties and the people of the state.”
