Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, on Thursday won the All Progressives Congress’ governorship primary by 1,168 votes to defeat five other aspirants.
Abiodun contested the primary election with five other aspirants; Abdulkabir Akinlade, Biyi Otegbeye, Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, Owodunni Opayemi and Remi Bakare.
The exercise was held at the main bowl of the MKO Abiola Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta on Thursday.
The election was supervised by a five-man Electoral Committee from the National Headquarters headed by Wale Ohu.
Announcing the results of the election after delegates from the 20 Local Government areas had cast their votes, Ohu said Abiodun scored 1,168 votes while other aspirants had nil.
He said that 1,180 delegates were accredited for the election, saying that 1,170 votes were cast with two voided votes.
“Prince Dapo Abiodun, having scored the majority votes cast, is hereby declared the winner of the APC governorship primary election in Ogun state.
“He is hereby declared the governorship candidate of APC to stand in the 2023 governorship election in the state,” Ohu said.
In his acceptance speech, Abiodun promised to continue with the massive turnaround of the state with various infrastructural development.
He appreciated the people of the state for their continuous support and prayers.
The governor also commended members of the electoral committee, saying that they have conducted a free and fair election.
Meanwhile two of the aspirants, Adekunle Akinlade and Biyi Otegbeye, had rejected the chairmanship of the election committee and passed a vote of no confidence on the Chairman of the governorship election primaries, Wale Ohu.
The aspirants, in a jointly signed press statement, also expressed reservations on the delegate list used for the exercise.
Their reservations were also expressed in a petition addressed to the National Chairman of the Party, Abdullahi Adamu.
Akinlade and Otegbeye recalled that it was the same Wale Ohu who conducted the wards, local government and state congresses of the Party in Ogun, adding that the three congresses ended in controversies and deepened the cleavages within the Party in Ogun State.
They also reminded the National Chairman that the outcome of the three congresses conducted by Ohu featured prominently before the National Reconciliation Committee of the APC that was then headed by Adamu.
“It was now surprising that the same Wale Ohu was again appointed to serve as the Chairman of the gubernatorial primary election in Ogun State. It is intriguing that out of the millions of members of the APC nationwide, Mr Ohu is having an exclusive preserve of chairmanship of all congresses in Ogun State,” the statement said.
“Our members who have bitterly complained about the partisan conduct of Mr Wale Ohu in all the congresses he had superintended in Ogun State are therefore not comfortable with the choice of him as Chairman of all the election panels.
“By his antecedent, we do not believe that he has the capacity to conduct an objective and impartial gubernatorial primary election.”
The two aspirants also complained that they were not included in the process of delegates selection for the primaries, alleging that only one aspirant collected all the delegate forms in the State.
They added that a few hours before the election, no list of delegates for the primary election was published nor did the Committee meet with them in line with standard procedure.
“The guidelines for the conduct of the congresses in the APC stipulate that aspirants should pay a prescribed fee for Delegate Forms, which we did but no forms were made available to us.
“Furthermore, only one aspirant collected all the delegate forms in the State, thus hedging the entire process in his favour. Your Excellency may wish to note that a few hours before the scheduled primaries, no list of delegates for the primary has been formally published nor did the Primary Election Committee members meet with us in line with standard procedures.
“This has spurred speculations that the list to be used for the exercise is a disputed list of delegates. Our members are aggrieved about it.
“Against this background, we wish to inform your Excellency that we have no confidence in the choice of Chairman of the election panel and have fears and reservations about the list of delegates to be used for the exercise.”
