Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been declared the winner of the ward primary and the candidate of the APC in the coming governorship election in the state, Africa Today News, New York reports.
According to official figures announced, Aiyedatiwa scored a total of 48,569 votes in the primaries while fellow contender, Mayowa Akinfolarin, polled 15,343 votes, with Olusola Oke coming in third position with 14,865 votes.
He was declared the winner by the Chairman of the Governorship Primary Election Committee and Governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Ododo, in the early hours of Monday, who also noted that the electoral process went ”smoothly” with little skirmishes recorded.
”I can confirm that the direct mode of primary election adopted in the 2024 Ondo state governorship primary elections held in all 203 electoral wards in all the 18 LGAs in Ondo state,” Ododo said while announcing the winner.
The Ondo state governor coasted to victory in 16 of the 18 LGAs losing out on Ilaje LGA to third-placed Oke
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Omogoroye also lamented the absence of election officials and voting materials at voting centres, saying her supporters could not exercise their right to vote.
“I am not going to accept it, and now, I am calling for cancellation and if this is not done, maybe we’ll meet in the court,” she said while threatening legal action if her demand for a fresh and transparent election were not met
In a similar vein, angry party members staged protests in Akure’s streets, calling for Ododo to be removed as the committee’s chair and the exercise to be cancelled.
The demonstrators brought their grievances to the APC state secretariat in Akure, where they claimed that there had been anomalies in the way the 203 state ward primaries had been conducted.
They called the procedure a “daylight robbery” and pleaded with the APC national leadership to prevent the state from becoming entangled in a conflict.
One of the protesters claimed no ward primaries were held, insisting that the guidelines given by the national secretariat of the party were not followed as the committee did not distribute materials to any wards.
The party members warned of likely consequences if an unpopular candidate is imposed on them as it could affect the chances of the party in the governorship election