A viral report claimed that the primary that produced Biodun Oyebanji as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Ekiti Governorship election holding this Saturday, 18 June, has been nullified by an Abuja High Court.
The rumour which was spread on social media and published by several blogs reads: “Less than 72 hours to the conduct of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday nullified the All Progressives Congress primaries that produced its candidate in the poll, Mr Biodun Oyebamji.
“The court cited irregularities in the conduct of the primaries conducted to nominate Oyebamiji.”
Verification
Daily Trust observed the two-paragraph report was reproduced across all platforms that published it.
Debunking the news, the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Segun Dupe, urged Ekiti people and party members to “disregard the rumour and discountenance it as the forlorn wish of some desperate politicians in the state, which cannot come to pass.”
He said, “The warped rumour is a demarketing gimmick of some desperate opposition who are unmindful of the fact that they are causing further damage to their zero chances at the poll, instead of enhancing it.
“…there were some cases filed by some disgruntled elements regarding the governorship primaries we organized in January this year, which saw to the emergence of Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji as the candidate of our party, but none has gone beyond the preliminary stage and all of them have been transferred back to Ekiti for hearing.
“No High Court is sitting on any matter regarding our primary in Abuja as at today. Furthermore, every matter relating to the primary has been adjourned till September this year. To the best of our knowledge, none is up for hearing at the moment.
“The only one perhaps is in the wildest imagination of our detractors, which cannot see the light of day. Our party remains focused on the coming election and sure of untainted victory at the end.”
The results of the primary announced by the Jigawa State Governor and Chairman of the Primary Election Committee, Mohammed Badaru, showed that Oyebanji, a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), defeated other aspirants to emerge winner of the election which held in January.
He polled 101,703 votes, while his closest challengers; Ojo Kayode had 767, Opeyemi Bamidele had 760 and Dayo Adeyeye polled 691 votes.
Conclusion
Available facts have proved the purported nullification of the Ekiti State APC governorship primary to be false. Thus, the viral report is misleading.
This fact check was done in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).
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