The faction loyal to the Minister of Interior and former Governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola in the Osun State Chapter of All Progressive Congress (APC) has rejected the result of last Saturday’s governorship primary elections and has urged the Appeal Committee of the party to nullify the result.
The factional Chairman, Alhaji Rasaq Salinsile, while speaking at a stakeholder’s meeting on Monday at Oranmiyan House in Osogbo, the state capital insisted that the primary was a charade which cannot stand.
Five killed as rival cult gangs clash in Bayelsa
NDDC denies payment of N20bn to ghost contractor
Salinsile said the primary election was a ruse and that justice has not been served. He said, “We, therefore, reject the result and will be approaching the Appeal Committee to be set up by the National Secretariat.”
He claimed that as of the day of the election, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, an aspirant endorsed by Aregbesola was not allowed to have access to the Osun APC membership register used for the election.
According to him, “By this, Adeoti was denied knowledge of how many members the party had as at the day of the election which is contrary to morality and the law.”
Salinsile said many party members loyal to Aregbesola were disenfranchised, as APC members who trooped to the election centres with their membership slips could not find their names on the register.
He said, “Contrary to the guidelines, accreditation did not take place in many election centres while result sheets were unavailable. The appointees of Governor Gboyega Oyetola were the appointed electoral officers and supervisors of the exercise.
“We note that there were overvoting in some areas while the much talked about presence of personnel of the Independent National Electoral Commission was far-fetched. Many members who were not part of Governor Oyetola’s IleriOluwa group were chased away from the election centres by thugs and hoodlums hired by government agents.
He continued, “Prior to the Saturday’s high-level display of impunity called election, we have had to call on Governor Oyetola to resign from membership of the National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (NCECPC) as it runs against morality and the law.
“That position was used by Governor Oyetola to get so many things manipulated in the process leading to conduct of the primary, including the furtive change of date of the exercise.