Three of the four APC candidates who ran for Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 1 walked out of the primary on Friday, citing irregularities and manipulation.
Sunday Ola, Oluyemi Esan, and Opeyemi Ogunsakin were among the aspirants who expressed dissatisfaction with the primary’s conduct.
Rep. Sola Fatoba, a sitting federal lawmaker, was declared the winner of the party’s primary election to return to the House of Representatives for a second term, according to reports.
The aggrieved aspirants, Esan, Ogunsakin, and Ola, responded by calling Fatoba’s victory “a sham and a disgrace to the ruling party,” and describing the primary as “a sham and a disgrace to the ruling party.”
“This primary is nothing but a sham and a disgrace to APC,” Esan said, addressing reporters at the primary’s venue.
“We expected the panel from Abuja to correct the delegates’ list that was brought from the national, which they didn’t do.”
Ola urged the party’s national leaders to declare the primary null and void and hold a new election.
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This, he claims, will help our party win the governorship election in the state on June 18th.
“We asked for the delegates’ list more than a week ago, but they refused.”
“We wanted to present our grievances to the National Returning Officers this morning, but we were told that they were still on their way, but that they had begun calling the delegates.”
The State Returning Officers stated, “We queried who was in charge here.”
“They told us it’s a five-man Primary Election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives congress, led by Mr Dele Oloje and Niyi Adedipe, who is a delegate.”
“So, at the end of the day, there was nobody from the national secretariat conducting the primaries, but they were executed by the State Returning Officers, and with that, what do you expect other than the execution of a planned project,” he said.
“Everyone is agitated and the tension is high,” Ogunsakin added, “just because the delegates’ list that was supposed to be used for the primary was doctored.”
The aggrieved candidates threatened to testify in front of the APC Appeal Panel.
According to the Committee that conducted the primary, Fatoba polled a total of 114 votes to win the election, which was overseen by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies.
Ola, Esan, and Ogunsakin, who walked out of the Ekiti Pavilion in Fajuyi, Ado-Ekiti, in protest of the primary, received zero, three, and two points, respectively.
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Fatoba told reporters that his re-election was a validation of his constituents’ trust in him.
He urged the other competitors to view his victory as a collective victory rather than a victory for one person or a vanquished race.
“We can all work for APC’s victory in the June 18 governorship election,” Fatoba said, urging them to join hands with him.
