Gov Abiodun wins at his party’s Guber primary election.
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has likened his monumental victory at the governorship primary election of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday to a Tsunami.
Enthused by the victory at the poll conducted at the MKO International Stadium, Abeokuta, which had now accorded him his party’s governorship candidacy in 2023 general elections, Prince Abiodun waxed poetic as he lauded the election as a landslide, tsunami and an earthquake noting that it has served as a prompt for him to devote himself more to the service of the state.
“I am over-inspired. The reward for hard work is more hard work. We promise to fulfil all our promises. We will not rest on our oars”, the governor said.
Still praising the election and its result, Governor Abiodun thanked God and all who made it possible stressing that “I don’t think any transparent success can be better than this”.
He also thanked all those who had identified with his administration of the past three years and noted that a group of young men bought the party’s ticket for him while another gave him the amount of the form in cash.
Speaking earlier while highlighting the details of the election which was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere, the Chairman of the Ogun State APC Primary Election Committee, Chief Wale Ohu, disclosed that 1,180 delegates, from the 20 local governments of the state were accredited for the exercise.
Governor Abiodun slugged it out with five other aspirants which included Olubiyi Otegbeye, Mrs Modele Sarafa-Yussuf, Mr Owodunni Opayemi, Remilekun Bakare and Abdukadir Akinlade.
Out of the six aapirants, only Abiodun, attended the primary in person while the others were represented by their agents.
Chief Ohu, said Abiodun scored 1,168 votes, while other aapirants, did not secure any vote, saying that two votes were voided.
Meanwhile, some of the co-contestant of the governor at the primary election have distanced themselves from the conduct and result of the poll.
Two of the governorship aspirants, Hon. Adekunle Akinlade a.k.a Triple A and Barrister Biyi Otegbeye, known as BOT has written a letter to the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu to reject the state party’s Governorship Primary Election Committee headed by Mr. Wale Ohu.
According to the two, Ohu cannot conduct an objective and impartial gubernatorial primary election for Ogun State, stressing that he is a partisan politician.
They added that the election panel did not make available to them the delegate’s forms as stipulated in the guidelines for the conduct of the exercise, saying the delegate’s forms were only given to Governor Dapo Abiodun, a development they considered abnormal.
Otegbeye and Akinlade in the letter agreed they would participate in the primary election because of their loyalty to the party and respect for its leadership, they, however, warned that post gubernatorial primary election dispute may be inevitable.
Their letter reads inter alia, “The same Mr. Wale Ohu was the Chairman of the ward, local government, and state congress committees in Ogun state in 2021. The three congresses ended in controversies and deepened the cleavages within the APC in Ogun state. It is noteworthy that the crisis emanating from the congresses featured prominently before the National Reconciliation Committee of the APC under the able leadership of your good self.
“It was, therefore, surprising that the same man, Mr. Wale Ohu was again appointed to serve as 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 the chairmanship of all congresses in Ogun state.
“Our members who have bitterly complained about the partisan conduct of Mr. Wale Ohu in all the congresses he had super-intended in Ogun State are therefore not comfortable with the choice of him as Chairman of the election panel. By his antecedents, we do not believe that he can conduct an objective and impartial gubernatorial primary election.
“The guidelines for the conduct of 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 election 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 this.
“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.
“The above notwithstanding, we shall be participating in the primary election because of our loyalty to the party and respect for its leadership. However, we wish to place our concerns on record”.
In a related development, another of the governorship aspirants, Mrs. Modele Sarafa – Yusuf said she has accepted the victory of Dapo Abiodun at the just concluded governorship primary with reservations.
Modele Sarafa – Yusuf who was a former aide of governor Dapo Abiodun said though she had decided to respect the party’s decision but noted that the process that took place on Thursday at the MKO Abiola Stadium Abeokuta, validated her earlier reservations and that of four other defeated contestants.
The veteran sports caster made this known through her official Twitter handlle after Abiodun was declared winner by Hon. Wale Ohu, chairman of the five – man Primary Election Committee.
She stated: “I just received the result of the Ogun State governorship primary elections in which the incumbent is said to have scored all the 1,169 votes.
“For the records, four other aspirants had written to the party to ask for direct rather than delegate election so the people’s real voices can be heard but the party, in its wisdom decided to conduct indirect primary election.
“While I respect the party’s decision, the process that took place today validates our earlier reservations.
“That said, I accept the ‘verdict’ and send good wishes to the declared winner, Governor. Dapo Abiodun.”
