Immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has emerged winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election in Bayelsa State.e
He is now the governorship candidate of the party for the November 2023 gubernatorial election in the state.
Similarly, Usman Ododo, a former Local Government Auditor-General in Kogi State, has been nominated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state as its governorship candidate for the November 2023 governorship election.
Ododo’s victory at the Kogi APC primary election which was held yesterday across the state was declared by the secretary of the National APC Governorship Primary Committee, Patrick Obahiagbon.
The former Local Government Auditor-General, who according to Obahiagbon, polled 78,704 votes out of the 93,729 registered voters across the 21 local governments in the state, floored six other contestants in the primary election, which was conducted via direct voting.
Among those who lost to Ododo at the primary election were the incumbent Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Smart Adeyemi, who polled only 311 votes; Stephen Ocheni who got 552 votes and Sanusi Ohiere, who garnered 424 votes to win the primary election.
Following the endorsement of Ododo by Governor Yahaya Bello as his preferred aspirant ahead of the party primaries, several aspirants, including Bello’s chief of staff, Abdulkareem Asuku; deputy governor of the state, Edward Onoja; and a former Commissioner for Finance, David Adebanji-Jimoh, voluntarily withdrew from the race.
Declaring Ododo as the candidate of the APC in Kogi State, Obahiagbon said: “I, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, Secretary of the Election Committee Kogi State, on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee, Governor Bello Matawale of Zamfara State, hereby declare that Ahmed Usman Ododo, having scored the majority of lawful votes cast at the direct primary election conducted on the 14th day of April, 2023 in Kogi State, is hereby declared as winner of the APC Kogi State primary election.
“He hereby returns as the duly elected governorship candidate of APC for the November 2023 governorship election.”
Adeyemi, Ocheni, Audu, Ajaka reject result, vow to challenge outcome
Some governorship aspirants of the APC in the state, however, rejected the results of the party’s primary held in Lokoja yesterday.
The aspirants include the Senator representing Kogi West, Smart Adeyemi; former Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Prof. Stephen Ocheni, son of late former governor Abubakar Audu, Prince Shuiabu Abubakar Audu; and a member of the National Working Committee of the APC, Murtala Yakubu Ajaka.
Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved aspirants at a press conference in Abuja, Senator Adeyemi claimed that no election took place to have warranted the declaration of Ahmed Usman Ododo as the governorship candidate of the APC for the state.
He called on the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Vice President-Elect, Senator Kashim Shettima; National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu; and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party not to allow the results of the primary election to stand.
Adeyemi said: “This press conference is going to be very brief. It is to discuss the new phenomenon of electoral malpractices and embedded corruption in our electoral process in this country.
“I have heard of rigging of elections but I have not heard of the new phenomenon which we must do all that we can to stop in this country.
“The APC governorship election primary was scheduled for yesterday (Friday). As expected, all of us were in our various wards, having gone round quite a number of areas in the state.
“Personally, I was at home till around 12 noon and I became agitated to find out why none of my boys had come to tell me that it is time to vote, because normally I will stay and allow them to say, ‘Oga, you can come now’.
“By the time we were leaving the house around 1 pm, the election of course was supposed to be concluded by 2pm, what we heard was that election results were already being announced.
“So in essence which I think my colleagues here would attest to, results were prepared even before the commencement of voting.
“Announcements were made and I was taken aback. This is the worst malpractice and the worst form of rigging unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.
“That you will write the results of a governorship primary election when some people were persuaded, cajoled and forced to step down, those of us who had the courage believing that it is a democracy participated.
“If we were defeated, we will not bother. In fact, if there was an election and it was rigged, we will know that it was rigged.
“But where there was no election at all and for somebody to have the audacity to write results and went ahead to announce it is criminal.
“The National Secretary of the APC and the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Kogi State must be prepared to explain and to tell Nigerians if there was voting during the APC governorship primary in Kogi State.
“The primary election was not conducted. All of us mobilised our supporters. The people trooped out in their thousands. But behold none of the officials of INEC nor even the panel that was to conduct the election, they were in town but none of them came out.
“I must add that the Chairman of that panel, the Governor of Zamfara State, who was the one, according to the Constitution of the APC, to announce results, he came and we saw him.
“But we are equally aware that his Excellency, Governor Matawalle, of Zamfara State was not happy with the way and manner the thing was handled.
“And as a good Muslim during Ramadan, you try to reduce your sins if not to stop all together. He was not available. He left, and by the constitution of APC, if the Chairman fails to turn up to announce the results, the Secretariat is supposed to send another chairman, but the Secretary of the panel went ahead to announce the results.
“The APC governorship primary election in Kogi State was just allocation of votes. And some of us they felt were problems to them, they reduced our votes drastically. Of course there was no voting.
“But let me tell you this, who is the person that emerged? The purported winner is the Auditor General of the Local Governments of Kogi State. He was the one that got the blessings of our Governor.
“Now we have no problem with our Governor. We have problem with the level of his involvement in this election.
“He got involved in it and rightly so. But we thought that if you are going to sell us in the market, we should know how much you are selling us.
“In essence, if you will rig election, we know that you rigged election. But where there was no election at all…
“Now, Nigerians must rise up to this and not the issue of Kogi alone. If there is any crime committed anywhere in Nigeria and you say it does not concern you, somebody will copy it in your state. So you must show concern. This is a rape of democracy.
“Now let me equally tell our National Chairman, if APC refuses to do what is right, it will be difficult for us to campaign to our people to vote APC.
“There was no election. The primary election didn’t take place. It was just deceit, manipulation and lies to make sure that they delivered the candidate of the Governor who happens to be his own first cousin. Not only that, they are from the same Ward and the same Local Government.
“This is our pains. Kogi is a state with highly educated and exposed people. We cannot fold our arms. Already there have been threats to our lives and those of our family members.
“Next week, we will get the full details and announce those who are promising to kill us and our children. We will mention it to Nigeria people.
“But we are not going to stop this crusade. In fact, it is a struggle that is just gathering momentum.
“We are not going to allow it to stand and I want to believe that the APC will not allow it to stand.”
In Bayelsa State, Sylva slugged it out with five other APC chieftains for the governorship ticket.
Maj-Gen. A.T. Jubrin (rtd), Chairman of the party’s Primary Election Committee, had earlier explained to reporters that the party adopted the option A4 for the direct primary, which held in all the 105 wards in the state.
The other aspirants were David Lyon, Ogbomade Isikima, Prof. Maureen Etebu, Festus Daumiebi and Joshua Maciver.
Lyon was the governorship candidate of APC the election in 2019. He won the election, but his victory was later annulled by the Supreme Court over inconsistency in names in the certificates presented by his deputy.
The shocking annulment of his victory by the Supreme Court paved the way for the swearing in of Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party), PDP who came second in the election as governor.
Confusion as LP holds factional guber primaries in Imo
In Imo State, confusion is trailing the governorship primary of the Labour Party (LP) as three factions yesterday held the party’s gubernatorial primary election in different locations.
It was learnt that about 10 of the aspirants settled for the Landmark Event Centre at New Owerri with their delegates for the election while three other aspirants held their elections differently along MCC Road, Urrata in Owerri North Local Government Area.
It was gathered that the presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi, who is the screening committee chairman for the state congress election of the party, allegedly identified with one of the factions.
Among those who are eyeing the Labour Party governorship ticket and have secured the Nomination Forms are Major General Lincoln Jack Ogunewe (rtd), Senator Athan Achonu, Martin Agbaso and Chief Joseph Ukaegbu.
Others are Tochi J.Ehirim, Ike Ibe, Kelechi Nwagwu, Basil Maduka, Chinedu Amadi, AIG Charles Agomuo (retd), Capt David Mbamara (retd), Fabian Ihekueme and Chief C. Ishiguzo.
Earlier, former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and an aspirant for the ticket, Sam Amadi, decried the state of affairs in the party ahead of today’s primary election.
In a statement he signed, Amadi revealed that he would not partake in the “open bazaar for delegates, or be a part of buying and selling of delegates which appears to be the norm ahead of the Imo State Labour party gubernatorial primaries”.
He lamented that his hopes had been dashed by the developments.
“I must state clearly that I will not participate in the buying and selling of delegates in any form. I will not give anyone one kobo. I have given everything,” he said.
Obi’s committee elects Achonu
In another development, Senator Athan Achonu has emerged the governorship candidate of the Labour Party for the November 11 governorship election in Imo State.
Achonu who represented Imo North Senatorial District in 2015 won in a keenly contested election held in Owerri, the state capital, on Saturday night.
The governor-elect of Abia State, Alex Otti, who served as the chairman of the election panel declared Achonu the winner of the primary having scored the highest number of votes.
In declaring Achonu the winner of the exercise, Otti said that he scored 134 votes while his closest rival, Jack Ogunewe, got 121 votes.
Jubilation erupted at the venue immediately Achonu was returned as the winner of the election by Otti.
Earlier, the 13 aspirants broke into three factions when efforts to unite them by the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi failed.
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