A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to former Governor Rauf Aregbesola has condemned the party’s governorship primary election in Osun State.

In a statement by its spokesman, Abiodun Agboola, the faction alleged widespread irregularities in the exercise conducted by the Osun APC Primary Election Committee led by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq of Kwara State.

“The Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq led Osun APC Primary Election Committee should know that the primary lacks credibility and fairness,” it said.

“It is necessary and important to inform the general public and Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq led Osun APC Primary Election Committee of the ongoing irregularities in the conduct of the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State of Osun.

“We strongly condemned the conduct of the primary election because it is nothing but a sham with a fraudulent process to favour Governor Adegboyega Oyetola. Verified information from the agents of Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, our governorship aspirant, has it that there are no record and result sheets in any of the 332 wards of the state.”

The APC conducted the primary election across the 332 wards in the state using the direct mode which allows party members to choose the candidate of their choice.

Governor Oyetola, who is seeking re-election for a second term, fell out recently with his predecessor and Minister of Interior, Aregbesola who now supports a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Moshood Adeoti.

A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yussuff, is also a contender in Saturday’s exercise.

Rigging Plan?

According to the Aregbesola faction, there was no proper accreditation in a majority of the ward collation centres where voting took place and the accreditation done in some places were skewed in favour of Governor Oyetola as his supporters were allowed to pass through the process without much ado.

It claimed that the names of many members of the APC who wanted to vote for Adeoti were missing in the register of the party, adding that they had envisaged such by calling for the display of the party register before the conduct of the primary.

A screenshot shows APC members at one of the polling units of the party’s governorship primary election on Osun State on February 19, 2022.

The faction also alleged that appointees of the governor were used as collation officers, which made the purported rigging plan of Oyetola an easy task.

“Loyalists and supporters of Adeoti are being chased and some were brutally attacked in wards where they have a strong presence,” it said. “Oriade, Olorunda, Osogbo, Odo-Otin, Boripe, and Ile-Ife are the worst of this act of intimidation and disenfranchisement.

“Where results of the election were announced (not recorded), the figure declared for Oyetola was highly inflated in the affected wards. INEC officials were noticeably absent in most of the wards to monitor the election.

“This is unacceptable. It is a shame that a sitting governor could resort to malpractices in his desperate bid to secure a second term ticket.” (Channels TV)

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