An All
Progressives Congress( APC) Senatorial aspirant in the just concluded primaries
of the party in Ekiti State, Dr. Olusegun Osinkolu, has said the alleged
concoction of results in favour of candidates in the National Assembly
primaries by powerful individuals had dented President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight
against graft.
Osinkolu,
who contested for the Senate ticket in Ekiti North senatorial district, alleged
that Dr Ibrahim Sule-led APC Committee on the National Assembly primary in
Ekiti, allegedly messed up the whole process by fabricating results in Senator
Olubunmi Adetumbi’s favour.
Adetumbi ,
who represented the district between 2011 and 2015 was declared winner of the
primary in Ekiti North.
Stating that
he rejected the primaries in its entirety, Osinkolu said elections didn’t hold
in Ikole, Moba and Ido/Osi local government areas out of the five councils that
constitute the district, urging Com Adams Oshiomhole to annul the primary and
order rerun of the exercise for Nigerians to take the change mantra of the
party seriously.
Addressing
journalists in Ado Ekiti on Monday on the contentious primaries that had
generated bad blood among party members, the APC chieftain said he had given
the party the best supports in Ekiti and didn’t deserve to be treated in such a
shabby and disrespectful manner.
Osinkolu
stated that party members were humiliated by security agencies through sporadic
shootings in Ikole while old and young members queued for over 12 hours without
seeing collation officers sent to the wards by the committee.
He expressed
displeasure that what Nigerians expected from the APC was a change in all
facets, particularly in the way the party conducts its elections, which he said
must be credible, lamenting that what some party members did in the primaries
would go a long way in undermining President Buhari’s belief in a corrupt-free
society.
Osinkolu
maintained that the only alternative way through which the party can approach
the 2019 elections with a united front to be able to deliver for Buhari, is by
annulling the outcome of the primary he described as not only a charade but a
product of poll robbery.
“The NWC
made good preparations for these elections, only for desperate power seekers to
hijack the process by cornering the committee sent to Ekiti and ensured they
did their bidding.
“The Ekiti
election in the North district was so worst to the extent that the Committee
brought photocopies to the wards to conduct elections, they hoarded the
original result sheets. This was a shame to a party that prides itself a
bringing change to the people.
“Apart from
that, elections didn’t hold in many of the wards. Our people who had queued
since 7pm got disappointed when they waited till around 6pm without seeing the
collation officers in their respective wards.
“But in few
places where elections were held, I have available evidence which I will
present to NWC hat I was winning. They stole my mandate and I am ready to
retrieve it using every legal and constitutional means.
“But because
of the enormous respect I have for our party leadership, I will explore
internal mechanism to seek redress but if this fail, I won’t have any other
option than to challenge the outcome in court.
“Let the
party do its investigations thoroughly and found out where elections were not
held and order rerun in those areas or use the results of where polls were
conducted to declare the actual winner. This remains the best way to stabilize
our party and reinforce Nigerians’ confidence in APC as a political party.
“It saddened
one’s heart to see party leaders humiliating their followers in their unbridled
quests for power, they must have a rethink else, they will end up destroying
the party and render it impotent to be able to win elections.
“As a loyal
party man, I will remain in the APC and fight for my right.”
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