Former Governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni on Sunday called on the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party to investigate the errors that led to the inconclusive governorship primary in the state.
Oni, former APC National Deputy Chairman (South) and governorship aspirant of the party, said the way some people who were discovered to be friends of a particular aspirant were nominated into the Ekiti governorship primary committee put the integrity of the party’s national leadership to question.
He spoke in Ifaki-Ekiti on Sunday while reacting to violence that marred Saturday’s primary of the party.
DAILY POST observed that the election was at the fifth local government when some agents had raised serious allegations bordered on fraud against the agent to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, which led to the disruption of the exercise.
Oni, however, saluted the Chairman of the Governorship Primary and Nasarawa State governor, Alhaji Tanko Al-Makura for doing a thorough job only for his efforts to be allegedly sabotaged by unscrupulous elements around him.
He described the violence as very unfortunate, saying that Oyegun must investigate how the Secretary , Hon. Mogaji Aliyu , a known ally of one of the aspirants was made member of the committee.
“Those who have penchant for cheating and fraud structured the primary to favour a particular aspirant. I was the APC National Deputy Chairman for four years, despite I never used my position to influence anything about a primary I was directly involved.
“When you have penchant for fraud or to cheat the system, it makes democracy to look sour and uninteresting.
“How would one feel to get to the field of play and found out that the referee was nominated by one of the teams? We found out that the Secretary of the committee, Aliyu Mogaji was nominated by an aspirant and Governor Al-Makura later got to know about this and dropped him from functioning as the Returning Officer.
“That is why the NWC led by Chief Oyegun owes all of us a thorough explanation about how Mogaji found himself in the committee and how to prevent such in future, except that we are hiding under democracy to fool ourselves.
“Whether I will be governor or not or hold political office in the future, I think enough is enough about people being desperate to get positions , because we must give confidence to our people”.
When asked whether consensus will be best option, Oni said he was in support of the idea but such would be difficult to attain with the level the fierce battle has reached.
“I support consensus but now it is impossible, because the perception of the society makes it difficult for politicians to reach compromise .
“Politicians are always under pressure from their admirers and announcing to them that you have stepped down for someone could create bad impression about you, so it will be difficult to achieve at this level”, he added.
Meanwhile, Senator Babafemi Ojudu has dispelled the allegation that he and Hon. Bimbo Daramola allegedly masterminded the violence that marred the primary, describing it a spurious and senseless
A statement by Fayemi’s Media Aide, Yinka Oyebode shortly after the primary was botched, accused Ojudu and Daramola as being responsible for the attack.
Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti on the issue, Ojudu clarified that he never exhibited any desperation and that accounted for why he didn’t go to the election venue with party supporters.
He said, “I even hate seeing thugs around me. They said I was desperate; let us ask ourselves, who among the aspirants took delegates to Igbara Oke and Owo in Ondo State to camp? It was Fayemi. He was the one who compromised the committee and bought over security agencies to compromise the system.
“I brought him to Ekiti, I did a lot for him to be governor, so I had always known him to be desperate and we were getting video clips about how he offered bribes to delegates and how he was making calls at the election venue to top security brass in Ekiti and Abuja to cheat the system
“Let me tell him, all these antics will not work. The primary will be conducted and it must be free, fair and credible”, he said.
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