By Remi Koleoso
Three of the four aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that contested the primary for Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 1, on Friday walked out of venue of the primary, alleging irregularities and manipulation.
The aspirants were Sunday Ola; Oluyemi Esan and Opeyemi Ogunsakin, who expressed their dismay over the conduct of the primary.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a serving federal lawmaker, Rep. Sola Fatoba, was, however, declared winner of the party’s primary to return to the House of Representatives for a second term.
Reacting, the aggrieved aspirants, Esan, Ogunsakin and Ola, expressed their disapproval of Fatoba’s victory, describing the primary as “a sham and disgrace to the ruling party”.
Esan, addressing newsmen at the venue of the primary said: “This primary is nothing, but a sham and disgrace to APC.
“The delegates’ list that was brought from the national was doctored by some party members and we expected the panel from Abuja to rectify this, which they didn’t do.”
In his reactions, Ola appealed to the national leaders of the party to nullify the primary and order fresh election.
According to him, this will enable our our party to win the June 18 governorship election in the state.
“We requested for the delegates’ list over a week before today, but they denied us.
“This morning, we wanted to lay our complaints before the National Returning Officers, only to be told that they are still on their way, but they have started calling the delegates.
“We queried, who was in charge here, they said the State Returning Officers.
“They told us that it’s a five-man Primary Election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives congress, headed by one Mr Dele Oloje, and one Niyi Adedipe, who himself is a delegate.
“So, at the end of the day, there was nobody from the national secretariat to conduct the primaries, but executed by the State Returning Officers and with that, what do you expect other than executing a planned project, but it is well,” he said.
Also, Ogunsakin said, “everyone is agitated and the tension is high, simply because the delegates’ list that was supposed to be used for the primary had been doctored.”
The aggrieved aspirants threatened that they would appear before the APC Appeal Panel to tender their evidence.
Fatoba, according to the Committee that conducted the primary supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) and security agencies, polled a total of 114 to win the poll.
Other contestants, Ola, Esan, and Ogunsakin, who walked out of the venue of the primary in protest at the Ekiti Pavilion, Fajuyi in Ado-Ekiti, scored zero, three and two, respectively.
Briefing newsmen on his victory, Fatoba described his re-election as a confirmation of the confidence reposed on him by his constituents.
He appealed to other contestants to see his victory as no victor, no vanquished race, but a collective victory.
Fatoba urged them to join hands with him so that, “we can all work for the victory of APC in the June 18 governorship election”.(NAN)
