Crisis in Ogun APC as 2 Governorship Candidates Emerge
Two governorship candidates have emerged in the Ogun state
chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) following two parallel primaries
held on Wednesday.
While the state chairman of the party, Chief Derin Adebiyi
declared the House of Representatives member Adekunle Akinlade as the winner,
the electoral panel sent by the National Working Committee declared oil mogul,
Prince Dapo Abiodun the winner.
The two groups claimed they held the authentic primary as
ordered by the NWC.
Muhammad Ndabawa, who led the NWC Electoral Committee members
declared that Abiodun, who hails from Ogun East Senatorial District, scored
102,305 votes from the 236 wards across the 20 Local Governments to emerge the
candidate.
According to Ndabawa, Jimi Lawal scored 51,153 votes,
Abimbola Ashiru 29,764, Senator Gbenga Kaka 17,771, Abayomi Hunye 9,110 votes
and Adekunle Akinlade 23, 443 votes.
Ndabawa said that the declaration of Abiodun as the winner
“is subject to ratification by the National Working Committee of the party”.
He also said he was not aware of the exercise that produced
Akinlade.
“Our Committee is the authentic body constituted by the NWC
to conduct and supervise governorship primary in the state in line with the
party guidelines and constitution”, Ndabawa said.
The Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Derin Adebiyi
who announced the alternative results at the party secretariat in Abeokuta also
claimed that the direct primaries were conducted across the 236 wards of the
state.
He added that the exercise was conducted through the open
secret ballot system in accordance with the party guidelines on direct
primaries.
According to him, six aspirants contested for the
governorship position including Mr Jimi Lawal, Mr Abayomi Hounye and the former
state commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr Bimbo Ashiru.
Others are a former Deputy Governor of the state, Sen.
Adegbenga Kaka, the Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission, Prince Dapo
Abiodun and Akinlade who is representing Ipokia/Egbado-South Federal Constituency
at the House of Representatives.
A breakdown of the result announced by Adebiyi on local
government basis shows that Akinlade won in all the 20 council areas of the
state scoring a total of 190,987 votes.
Mr. Jimi Lawal came second with a total of 5, 046 votes while
Abiodun came third with 3, 648 votes.
Ashiru scored 898, Kaka 833 and Hounye 208 votes to emerge
fourth, fifth and sixth.
Adebiyi said that the primaries were supervised by the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies.
The Chairman who described the national electoral committee
of the party as being “compromised” said the committee was not in town to
conduct the primaries.
He explained that the committee had continued to postpone the
exercise which was originally scheduled to hold on Saturday.
Adebiyi said the party leadership is vested with the
responsibility of overseeing the affairs of the party in the state.
Comments
Post a Comment