By Folorunso Ojo, Akure
Two more aspirants who lost in the last Saturday primary election for the gubernatorial election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the state have petitioned against the process.
The two aspirants who include, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim and Engr. Folakemi Omogoroye, they kicked against the process, noting that the just concluded governorship primary was marred with irregularities and fell short of appreciable standard.
According to Ibrahim and Omogoroye, the process was an anticlimax, a mockery of democracy and complete negation of every known democratic tenet.
While Omogoroye was calling for the cancellation of the last Saturday election, urging the Committee chairman to order for a fresh election as the whole process was compromised.
She stated in her petition that “I am urging you to cancel the election and order a fresh election in which all the laid down guidelines for a credible election will be followed and a level playing ground will be assured and ensured for all players in the election.”
“Anything short of this is an open endorsement of the robbery of Saturday by the leadership of our party”, he added.
In his own petition, Ibrahim hinged his appeal for cancellation of the election on four grounds which include non-compliance with the rules, non provision of electoral materials, non accreditation of agents and gross misconduct.
Ibrahim petition read: “This is an appeal to your committee to cancel the Primary election held in Ondo state on 20th April, 2024 on the ground that there was no election in the 203 wards and this is evidenced from the many petitions before your committee as captured on the ground below.”
“Ground One non-compliance with your rules, I paid the sum of N100m for the validation of over 40 thousand party members and those members were not allowed to be revalidated across Ondo State, this was because no voters register was made available in the wards to which members could be validated
“On ground two on provision of electoral materials. No electoral materials were provided for the conduct of the election, the local government electoral officials were kept in the hotel during the period of the election for several hours and only result sheets were given to them. The ward electoral officers were provided by one of the aspirants-Mr Lucky Ayedatiwa.
“Ground three, non accreditation of agents. My agents were not accredited in all the wards, and they did not sign the election result sheet since none was made available to them.
“The fourth ground is on gross misconduct. I received in my house in the village, Igbotako at 7pm on the day of election the local government returning officer and members of his committee. They informed me that they are in my house to capture my vote but I sent them away since my house is not a polling venue. The returning officer said he was instructed from above.
“Based on the four grounds stated above, the election should be cancelled and re- conducted immediately”, he added.
