Osogbo — CONFLICTING results have trailed the just concluded All Progressives Congress, APC, primary election in Osun State, as the electoral committee panel refused to declare the outcome of any of the exercises conducted over the weekend.
The National Caretaker Committee for the House of Assembly primary election, headed by Ronke Somefun, had directed the state electoral committee to conduct the election for the state House of Assembly, while Senator Ayo Arise supervised that of the House of Representatives and Senate primary elections on Friday and Saturday, but no official result has been announced since the exercise commenced Thursday evening.
Different aspirants have been posting different results on social media, with each claiming victory in the exercise.
Out of the 26 House of Assembly seats in the state, only six were not contested, including Osogbo, Irepodun/Orolu, Boripe/Boluwaduro, Ila, Atakumosa-West/Atakumosa-East state constituencies.
Vanguard gathered that one of the lawmakers from Osun West followed the party chairman from his local government to the collation centre and allegedly tasked thugs to deal with the chairman, who was the returning officer for the direct primary, for purportedly recording a figure that gave his opponent a sort of popularity.
Ife APC aspirants allege irregularities
Aspirants for Ife Federal Constituency also alleged irregularities over the conduct of the primary election, accusing a state party chieftain of trying to manipulate the outcome of the poll in favour of a particular aspirant.
In a petition, Messrs Rotimi Makinde, Nike Omoworare, Adeyemi Adetise, Marcus Adedini, Elugbaju Olayera and Samuel Ibiyemi alleged that the result made available by the returning officers from the constituency is not a reflection of what transpired on the field.
The petition reads: “To put it straight, no election was conducted in the whole of the Federal Constituency. All the election materials were taken to the house of the Deputy Chairman, Mr. Tajudeen Lawal, and Chairman Ife East Local Council, Mr. Akinwale, who filled and assigned figures to candidates as he wished.
“In other local governments, especially Ife South Local Government, election materials were hijacked to a party leader’s house at Ilode, where he assigned figures to his favourites, without taking into consideration the interest of party members and aspirants.”
We have no powers over primary –Osun APC
When reached for reaction, the spokesperson of the APC in Osun State, Mr Kola Olabisi said: “Well, we don’t have power over the time the result will be announced but the committee is working seriously over it and we are also expecting it.”