Governor Usman Ododo, of Kogi State, the Chairman of the Ondo State Election Committee of the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held on Saturday, April 20, 2024, has declared the incumbent governor of the state, Lucky Aiyedatiwa as the winner of the poll.
Ododo, made the declaration in the early hours of Monday, April 22, 2024, in Akure after the presentation of results from the 18 local governments of the state.
With this declaration, Aiyedatiwa, who scored 48,569 votes to beat the other 15 aspirants to the ticket, has emerged as the APC governorship flagbearer in the forthcoming November 16 governorship election in the state.
Aiyedatiwa was closely followed by Mayowa Akinfolarin, who polled 15,343 votes, followed by Olusola Oke, who garnered 14,915 votes.
Jimoh Ibrahim, the serving senator for Ondo South, polled 9456 votes; Wale Akinterinwa, 1,952; Isaac Kekemeke, 1,045; Gbenga Edema, 395; Olamide Ohunyeye, 424; Jimi Odimayo, 490; Olusoji Ehinlanwo, 492; Morayo Lebi, 290; Diran Iyantan, 348; Francis Faduyile, 353; Ifeoluwa Oyedele, 462; Funmilayo Waheed-Adekojo, 529 and Funke Omogoroye, 115 votes.
The total number of registered voters was put at 171, 922, while accredited voters were 95,178.
There were no results from Ifedore Local Government Area, as reported by the Returning Officer for the local government, Oliver Okpala, who said the process was violently disrupted by thugs on Saturday.
He recalled that the violent thugs were about to attack them but they managed to sneak out of the community.
“There was shooting and violence when we came and the voters were scattered and returned to their homes for fear of being attacked.
“There was no election in the local government because we had to leave and I recorded zero for all the aspirants,” Mr Okpala said.
Another violent attack was reported from Ilaje Local Government Area where an electoral officer and a commissioner were abducted by hoodlums, but were later released following efforts by security agencies.
Despite violent incidences, Ododo said reports from the field revealed that the primary election went on peacefully, and at the end of the exercise, votes were counted and recorded.
However, the other governorship aspirants in the state have rejected the result of the election, as scores of members of the APC in the state took to the streets of Akure, the state capital to protest against the conduct of the primary.
The protesters alleged that the primary election committee led by Governor Ododo did not follow the party’s guidelines.
The protesters, who also stormed the state secretariat of the APC in Akure, expressed displeasure over the conduct of the governorship primary in the state. They were said to be supporters of some governorship aspirants who participated in the primary and lost out.
They were armed with placards with various inscriptions such as “No election in Ondo”; “APC primary electoral officers failed to show up in all wards in Ondo State,’ ‘We demand fairness and justice in APC primary election in Ondo’’; ‘No mandate for Aiyedatiwa, We’re calling for fresh primary election”; ‘NWC of APC No Mandate for Aiyedatiwa”; “Saturday ‘s APC primary in Ondo was a sham”, among others.
Speaking for the protesters, the Director General of Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, Ondo Central Senatorial District, Adeniran Oyebade, said the people of the state would not allow their mandate to be stolen.
Oyebade said, “We are protesting against our mandate that was stolen. It was a daylight robbery, a monumental disaster. The APC delegated some people to Ondo State to conduct the primary, apparently, that was never done. They remained in Akure and started writing results.”
Calling for the disbandment of the Primary Election Committee of the APC in the state, Oyebade said the committee had caused more division in the party in the state.
“Election crime is a serious crime. You cannot come to the wards of our people and start terrorising them against their will. What we want is the cancellation of the election because the election did not take place,” he declared.
In the same vein, three aspirants in the election, Wale Akinterinwa, and one of the two female aspirants, Folakemi Omogoroye, condemned the process of the election on Sunday, demanding the cancellation of the whole exercise.
The Wale Akinterinwa Campaign Organisation’s spokesman, Segun Ajiboye, described the exercise as a show of shame, saying the Ododo-led committee did not do well in the conduct of the shadow poll.
He said, “Without any fear of contradiction, we state here that no election was held in any part of Ondo State on Saturday to elect the candidate of the APC. It is on record with incontrovertible evidence that nothing in the semblance of a primary election was held in all the 203 wards in Ondo State. At best, what can be said to have happened was that the committee chairman, Governor Ododo, arrived in the state at about 8 am on Saturday to write the result of an election that was never conducted.
“Saturday’s election presented our dear party with a rare opportunity to endear itself to the people of the state. All that was needed was for us to organise an election that would be hailed by all, even the opposition. But we bungled the opportunity with the sham organised by the electoral committee.
“The people have eyes and they can see. But on Saturday, they did not see any part of the state where electoral committee members counted the votes as expected. Rather, what they witnessed was a crowd of our enthusiastic supporters who stood in the sun for several hours waiting for the elusive electoral officers to turn up. But we dashed their hopes and expectations of a robust democratic engagement.”
In the same vein, the Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, in a statement issued by its spokesman, Ojo Oyewamide, on Sunday, said the primary was a mockery of democracy.
“We insist that what happened in Ondo State yesterday (Saturday ) was a disheartening mockery of democracy. As a result, our party has become a butt of jokes in the hands of the opposition parties and the people of the state.
“We would like to categorically state that the Kogi Governor cannot impose a candidate on our party members, through a shambolic exercise. It is unacceptable to us, “ the statement read.
