Kogi State governorship aspirant Senator Smart Adeyemi says the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries should be cancelled.
The Secretary of the election committee, Patrick Obahiagbon, had on Friday, announced the former Auditor General of Local Governments in Kogi State, Ahmed Ododo, as the winner of the governorship primary.
Ododo polled 78, 704 votes to beat six other contestants including Adeyemi who came seventh with 311 votes.
Reacting, Adeyemi, on a television programme on Monday, alleged that a forged result was sent to the party’s national secretariat.
This is as he accused Governor Yahaya Bello of imposing his cousin on the state.
“The guy (Ododo) who was purported to have won this election is a cousin of Gov Yahaya Bello. There was no election. If we allow this to go on, a time will come when the governor will impose his son, on the state. This is the worst form of nepotism,” he said.
The lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District stressed that the entire process was a charade geared toward installing Bello’s anointed candidate as the next governor of the state.
“Let me begin by saying that there was no election conducted at all in the whole state. What they did was a selection and manipulation of the people. What happened was that we were all at home and waiting. None of the INEC and APC officials visited my ward. None of the contestants voted anywhere. For almost six hours, nobody came. Nobody conducted the election. This is a rape of democracy. It is a treasonable offence. No, it is manipulation in the highest order. It is an ungodly act and undemocratic.
“As an aspirant for the state position, you have your coordinators all over the state waiting. No material was given to anybody. What they did was call the chairmen of the local governments’ areas and the chairman of the party and handed over materials to them. They took these materials to their comfort zones, fill up the forms and came back to the APC election committee that came. There was no election anywhere. The question is, why do they allow us to buy form if they have a system that will deny people to be voted for and to vote? Then that is not democracy. It is a betrayal.
“The video you saw was a stage-managed election with some residents and local government secretariats where they took people to. It was to create an impression that the APC primary took place when it didn’t.” he said
