It was the turn of All Progressives Congress (APC), delegates yesterday, to exercise their mandate of choosing governorship candidates across the country, a day after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) conducted theirs.
In Lagos State, delegates defied the rain at the Onikan Stadium (Mobolaji Johnson Arena) to elect Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu as their candidate for next year’s election.
Even though there were three aspirants for the primary, including Mr Wale Oluwo and Mustapha Olorunfemi, only the governor attended the exercise.
According to sources, the other two were not allowed into the venue because they were not cleared at the national level.
Sanwo-Olu arrived at 12:50 p.m. and thereafter, accreditation and voting commenced. In attendance were the Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat; Speaker House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Lagos APC chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi and state executive council members, among others.
The total number of delegates announced by the chairman of the Lagos APC gubernatorial electoral committee, Adamu Shettima Yuguda, was 1,225 from 245 wards across 20 local councils. The total number of accredited delegates was 1,198.
At the end of the primary, Sanwo-Olu scored 1,170 votes, though he was unopposed while 12 votes were invalidated.
While declaring Sanwo-Olu as the winner, Yuguda thanked the delegates for their patience. He also reiterated that out of the three aspirants that collected forms, only one was cleared while two were disqualified from Abuja.
In his address, Sanwo-Olu said: “As God answered us today, it is going to happen to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu between Sunday and Monday.”
Oluwo, after the exercise, alleged fraud in the Lagos APC delegates list.
According to Oluwo, the delegates were those handpicked by one of the APC factions in the state through a sham delegates congress purportedly held in the 245 wards on May 18 and 19.
He said: “We note that the screening committee, which was inaugurated by the APC National Headquarters to screen all governorship aspirants in Lagos, has refused to publish the results of the exercise as at the time of this press release. The approved Election Guidelines of the APC mandates the Screening Committee to release its results within 24 hours of concluding the screening, so as to give participating aspirants an opportunity to appeal the outcome of the screening at the APC Screening Appeals Committee.
“I cannot understand why the Screening Committee chose not to contact the aspirants screened by them, either by phone call, text message, written letter or any other means of communication, considering their decision to withhold the results of the screening. This is a serious breach of aspirants’ fundamental rights to fair hearing, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.”
Abiodun
IN Ogun State, Governor Dapo Abiodun, on Thursday evening, emerged the APC candidate for next year’s general elections. Abiodun secured the victory to pursue his second term bid at the primary held at the MKO Abiola Int’l Stadium, Abeokuta.
The governor contested with five other aspirants: Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade; Biyi Otegbeye; Modele Sarafa-Yusuf; Owodunni Opayemi and Remi Bakare. He polled a total of 1,168 votes out of 1,170 delegates accredited to defeat other contestants who scored no vote. Two votes were however voided.
The exercise, which was conducted by the five-man electoral panel, led by Wale Ohu, announced Abiodun as the winner after delegates drawn from the 236 wards of 20 local councils of the state cast their votes.
Abiodun, in his acceptance speech, described the election as a victory for the people of the state.
DEPUTY Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, the sole aspirant for Delta State governorship primary emerged the flag bearer of the party.
The returning officer, Mrs. Oyibo Nwaneri, declared Omo-Agege winner in the election held at Federal College of Education, Technical, Asaba with 1,191 of the 1,235 acredited delegates.
Speaking shortly after he was declared winner, he said: “Today, APC is speaking with one voice, we may have had our differences in the past, but we have been able to reconcile ourselves. With my emergence, APC is determined to take over power in the state.”
IN Rivers State, Pastor Tonye Dele Cole, owner of Sahara Energy, won the governorship ticket, scoring 986 votes to beat his closest rival at the Adokiye Amesimaka stadium.
Cole expressed gratitude to God, Chibuike Ameachi and party delegates for reposing confidence in him to fly the party’s flag in 2023.
Larry Odey, Chairman of the Electoral Committee, said five aspirants contested the primary as 1,308 delegates were accredited.
Odey said 12 votes of the 1,282 cast were invalid, Cole had 986; Ojukaye Flag-Amachree 190; Sokonte Davies 49; Ibenabo Michael Tom-West 43; Benard Mikko 2; and Magnus Abe, 1.
THERE was confusion in Oyo State as the party postponed the exercise, while Chief Niyi Akintola, one of the governorship aspirants, held a parallel primary at the Trans Amusement Park, Ibadan, where he claimed to have emerged as the standard-bearer of the party.
Earlier, there was an allegation of doctoring of the delegates list for the election. Akintola had said the process was being skewed to favour a particular candidate.
The primary election committee chairman, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, announced the postponement due to the inability of the aspirants and the committee to agree on the list for the conduct of the election.
Two meetings were called to arrive at this decision. Although all the six aspirants, including Niyi Akintola, Akeem Agbaje, Adebayo Adelabu, Akeem Alao, Teslim Folarin and Dr Azeez Adeduntan attended the first meeting, only Folarin was absent at the second meeting.
Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Chief Sunday Dare, was seen coming out of the meeting with the factional state chairman, Isaac Omodewu. After this, the exercise was postponed.
However, Akintola went to another venue to hold a parallel primary poll.
IN Ebonyi State, the former Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Chief Elias Mbam and Speaker, Ebonyi House of Assembly, Francis Nwifuru, yesterday emerged governorship candidates at two parallel primaries held in different locations in the state.
While Nwifuru held his primary at the township stadium, the ex-RMAFC chairman, Mbam held his own at his campaign office in Mile 50, Abakaliki.
Returning officer, Mr. Inya Out, declared Mbam winner after he pulled 741 votes to beat other contestants, while another returning officer, Prof. Emmanuel Adeboye, had declared Nwifuru winner in the other primary after pulling a total votes of 743.
HUSBAND of Nigeria’s Ambassador to the USA, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, emerged as the Abia State APC guber candidate. He polled 672 votes to defeat his rivals, Chief Emeka Atuma, who had 159 votes, immediate past Minister of State for Mines and Steel, Dr Uche Ogah, six votes; Daniel Eke, 16 votes; NALDA Executive Secretary, Prince Paul Ikonne, 22 votes; Dr Alex Otti, 14 votes and immediate past Finance Commissioner, Obinna Oriaku, who polled 12 votes.
While announcing the results, the Returning Officer, Tony Obiefuna, said the total number of accredited delegates was 920, total number of votes cast was 907 and valid votes was 892.
An elated Emenike, who is the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), appreciated delegates for electing him, saying he accepted the mandate with humility and sense of responsibility.
GOVERNOR Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State emerged winner of the state’s governorship primary with 698 votes. Sule’s only rival was Dr. (Mrs.) Fatima Adamu, ex-wife of the APC national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, who scored three votes.
The returning officer, Isa Ahmed Ibejo, said the electoral process was free, fair and satisfactory.
Sule in his remark commended the courage of Mrs. Adamu for challenging him in the primary. He, however, noted that as the only women who had ever done that in the history of the state, others should emulate her courage.
IN Enugu State, a Lagos businessman, Chief Uchenna Nnaji, emerged the APC gubernatorial candidate. Nnaji, who was the sole aspirant for the ticket, pulled 1,070 votes in the primary conducted in the Southeast zonal office of the party in Enugu.
No fewer than 1,300 elected delegates drawn from the 260 wards participated. He, however, won with 1,070 votes out of the 1,100 votes cast.
ALL the 563 delegates to the Gombe State governorship primary unanimously returned Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya as the party’s candidate. In his acceptance speech, Inuwa appreciated his supporters for the confidence and trust reposed in him. According to him, such trust could only spur him to deliver more convincing dividends of democracy.
Governor Zulum of Borno
ALSO, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State, has won the primary for the governorship elections in the state. No less than 1,422 delegates participated in the five-hour primary held at the El-Kanemi Warriors Sports Centre, Maiduguri.
On how Zulum won the primary, chairman, election and planning committee, Uba Maigari Ahmadu, asked: “Have you all agreed to adopt the voice votes to elect Zulum as your candidate?”
According to him, the delegates affirmed with a collective voice voting of ‘yes’ for Zulum to become the candidate of the APC.
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