Expressing his dismay over the outcome of the Ondo 2024 governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held on April 20th, 2024, Ondo South Senator, Jimoh Ibrahim, has labeled the exercise as a “mega fraud” that he intends to challenge all the way to the Supreme Court.
During a press conference, Ibrahim highlighted that the primary election failed to take place in 159 out of 203 polling units scattered across the three senatorial districts in Ondo State.
He accused Kogi State governor Ododo Ahmed Usman, who chaired the Ondo State Primary Election Committee, of colluding with former Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege to incorrectly declare Lucky Aiyedatiwa as the winner through fraudulent means.
Citing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) report, the lawmaker revealed that he has initiated legal proceedings at a Federal High Court in accordance with the Electoral Act, which mandates that any grievances arising from primary elections must be filed within 14 days.
According to the INEC report shared by Jimoh with journalists, the primary election did not take place in 15 out of 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Ondo.
Furthermore, Ibrahim alleged that Ododo and Omo-Agege manipulated the collation date of results midway to facilitate the “electoral fraud” in favor of the incumbent governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Supporting his claims, Jimoh referenced a letter authored by Ododo, directed to the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akure, which supposedly changed the collation date on the actual day of the primary election.
Portions of the letter revealed: “Please refer to our letters on the above-stated subject matter, dated 5th April, 2024, with Ref. Number APC/NHDQ/INEC/19024/016, wherein we requested a change in the State Collation Centre.”
“We are informing the Commission of the postponement of the collation of election results for the APC primary election, scheduled for April 20th, 2024, due to unforeseen circumstances regarding the submission of results from the Local Government Collation Centre Officers.”
“Despite our rigorous efforts to ensure timely collation, our Local Government collation officers will arrive late, encountering logistic challenges that have delayed the collation processes.”