Three of the four APC candidates who ran for Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 1 walked out of the primary on Friday, claiming irregularities and manipulation.
Sunday Ola, Oluyemi Esan, and Opeyemi Ogunsakin were among the aspirants who expressed their displeasure with the primary’s conduct.
According to reports, Rep. Sola Fatoba, a sitting federal lawmaker, was declared the winner of the party’s primary to return to the House of Representatives for a second term.
The aggrieved aspirants, Esan, Ogunsakin, and Ola, reacted by calling Fatoba’s victory “a sham and a disgrace to the ruling party.”
“This primary is nothing but a sham and a disgrace to the APC,” Esan told reporters at the primary’s venue.
“Some party members doctored the delegates’ list that was brought from the national, and we expected the panel from Abuja to correct this, which they didn’t do.”
Read Also: Mind your business, Burna Boy’s ex, Stefflon Don knocks critics in new ‘song’
Ola’s reaction was to call on the party’s national leaders to annul the primary and hold a new election.
This, he claims, will help our party win the state governorship election on June 18th.
“We asked for the delegates’ list over a week ago, but they said no.”
“We wanted to present our complaints to the National Returning Officers this morning, but we were told that they are still on their way, but they have begun calling the delegates.”
“We inquired as to who was in charge here,” the State Returning Officers stated.
“They told us it’s a five-man primary election for the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives congress, headed by Mr Dele Oloje and Niyi Adedipe, who is also a delegate.”
“At the end of the day, there was nobody from the national secretariat to conduct the primaries, but they were executed by the State Returning Officers, and with that, what do you expect other than the execution of a planned project,” he said.
“Everyone is agitated and the tension is high,” Ogunsakin added, “simply because the delegates’ list that was supposed to be used for the primary was doctored.”
The aggrieved candidates threatened to appear before the APC Appeal Panel to present their case.
Fatoba polled 114 votes to win the primary, according to the Committee that conducted the primary, which was overseen by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies.
Other contestants, Ola, Esan, and Ogunsakin, who walked out of the Ekiti Pavilion in Fajuyi, Ado-Ekiti, in protest, received zero, three, and two points, respectively.
Read Also: Ogun: group calls for a probe into the murder of Wale Matasacker
Fatoba told reporters that his re-election was a confirmation of his constituents’ faith in him.
He urged the other competitors to see his victory as a collective victory, rather than a victorious race.
“We can all work for the victory of the APC in the June 18 governorship election,” Fatoba said.
