Following the April 20 primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim and Folakemi Omogoroye, two of the 15 aspirants, have raised objections to the reported irregularities that occurred during the election.
In their plea to scrap the election results, both candidates condemned the shadow election as an act of ‘robbery’ and highlighted the various irregularities that tainted the electoral process.
In their petitions submitted to the Appeal Committee appointed by the party for the primary, Ibrahim and Omogoroye insisted that the conduct of the primaries did not meet the expected electoral standards.
Omogoroye, specifically requesting the annulment of the recent election, urged the committee head to call for a fresh election due to the compromised nature of the entire process.
Expressing her views, Omogoroye stated, “I urge you to invalidate the election and organize a new one that adheres to all necessary guidelines for a fair election. A fair competition should be guaranteed for all participants. Anything less than this would be an approval of the robbery that occurred on Saturday by our party’s leadership.”
In his appeal for the election’s cancellation, Ibrahim argued that, “No election took place in the 203 wards.”
Citing four main reasons for the cancellation, he explained, “I paid N100 million for the validation of over 40,000 party members, yet they were not permitted to undergo revalidation across Ondo State due to the unavailability of a voter register in the wards for the validation process.”
“None of the electoral materials were provided for the election,” he continued. “The local government officials were confined in a hotel during the election and were only given result sheets. Ward electoral officers were appointed by one of the aspirants, Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa.”
“My agents were not accredited in any of the wards, and they could not endorse the election result sheet as it was not provided to them,” Ibrahim further argued.
Claiming misconduct, he added, “On the day of the election, the local government returning officer and his team came to my home in Igbotako village at 7 pm, stating they were there to secure my vote. I refused as my home is not a polling venue. The returning officer mentioned he was acting on instructions from above.”
Based on the outlined grounds, Ibrahim concluded, “The election must be nullified and rerun immediately.”