An aspirant for the Abeokuta South federal constituency seat in the House of Representatives, Olamilekan Ademolake has kicked against the results of the primary election conducted last Saturday by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ademolake accused the party leadership of conniving to unconstitutionally announce Hon. Afolabi Afuape as the winner of the primary, arguing that the action was fraudulent
He said that the actions of the APC leaders truncated the democratic process for producing a candidate to represent the party in the 2027 general elections, and therefore called for the cancellation of the results.
Ademolake said that the primary election, conducted in all the wards in the constituency, was nothing but electoral fraud, which needed to be addressed constitutionally in the interest of peace and transparency
He complained: ‘The party (APC) proposal that a primary election be held in every ward, according to the electoral law, had been truncated and basically changed to unconstitutional ratification in Ogun State.
‘What the electoral law stated was that a direct primary should be conducted as embedded in the Electoral Act. Ratification or imposition has no place in the Electoral Law, hence, rendering such a move invalid, null and void.
‘Governor Dapo Abiodun imposed and directed his loyalists to go all out and ratify Afolabi Afuape as the sole candidate for the Abeokuta South federal constituency.
‘It’s unconstitutional for any governor to impose or ratify any candidate when the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has verbally made a pronouncement that any imposition or ratification will be treated as null and void with outright cancellation’.
The aspirant stressed that, as a result of the alleged imposition and ratification, fighting erupted, adding that it was through the Grace of God that no life was lost.
He, however, said that some party members sustained injuries in Ward 3 (Isale Abetu), Ward 6 (Itoko) and Ward 7 (Ijaye).
Ademolake alleged that there was no officiating member in Ward 15, despite a large turnout of party members, and that a number of them were disenfranchised.
He further said that, despite the lapses, sponsored officiating officers still went ahead to announce fictitious figures as the outcome of the ratification
‘At the end of the day, the party members who were used as officiating officials went ahead to display cooked and fictitious figures as the outcome of the ratification. Ratification can’t produce an electoral result, or where do they find the figures they’re brandishing? A big disgrace to our party,’ he said.
Ademolake implored the party leaders to quickly re-address the alleged anomalies to avoid the unexpected, emphasising that the APC should be seen as a responsible political party
