Two aspirants for Adamawa State governorship under the All Progressives Congress (APC) have condemned the conduct of the party’s primary, arguing that what was held was not an election.

Premium Times, an online medium, reported that in separate media briefings on Saturday in Yola, the state capital, Nuhu Ribadu, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Mahmoud Ahmed, a brother of Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, alleged that the process was hijacked across the state.

The two were contesting for the APC ticket along with incumbent Governor Mohammed Bindow.

They alleged that party members who thronged the polling centres were stranded throughout Friday as no officials turned up to conduct the election.

Ribadu said the alleged hijack of the process was a confirmation of their fears over the neutrality of the state’s party officials.

Ahmed, in a statement, called for sanction of party officials who allegedly masterminded the hijack, which he said was done to create confusion.

He said his agents at various local governments were barred from the centres and in some instances, threatened with violence.

Ribadu, on his part, said the involvement of the party officials in the election made the direct primary not different from indirect one that he and others had earlier opposed.

The two aspirants called on the party’s national leadership to cancel the purported primaries, and dissolve APC leadership at the local level to pave way for a fair contest.

An aide of the secretary of the electoral panel, Abdullahi Gwarzo, when contacted, said said his boss was busy with collation of results at the party’s headquarters in Yola and could not respond to the allegations.

•Sourced from Daily Independent report

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