The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, on Thursday, urged aggravated aspirants in the last Saturday’s Ondo State governorship primary to drop their petitions against Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who won the poll.
This was as aggrieved members of the APC, under the aegis of Ondo APC youths, on Thursday, besieged the party national secretariat in Abuja to protest against the outcome of last Saturday’s APC governorship primary in Ondo State that produced Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa as the winner.
The Chairman of the Ondo State Governorship Primary Election and Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, declared Aiyedatiwa the winner of the governorship primary with 48,569 votes.
The sitting governor, as declared, defeated 15 other APC governorship aspirants to clinch the ticket.
However, the protesting Ondo APC youths, who came in four luxury buses, demanded the cancellation of the poll.
They besieged the entrance of the party’s national secretariat but were successfully dispersed by security operatives and suspected thugs mounted at the entrance of the national headquarters.
Barely an hour later, the defiant young protesters regrouped a few blocks from the secretariat by the popular Barcelona Hotel, shouting ‘Aluta Continua.’
While displaying placards and banners that read ‘Ondo APC rejects Kangaroo primary election’, ‘No primary held in Ondo’ and ‘We want a fresh election,’ they threatened to march into the party secretariat again.
Their demonstration took place almost the same time the National Chairman of the APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, and members of the National Working Committee, were placating the aggrieved aspirants to bury the hatchet and support Aiyedatiwa ahead of the governorship election in November.
Addressing newsmen, the leader of the demonstrators, who is also a party youth leader in Akure South, Kolawole Johnson, described the primary as a sham and declared that only a rerun election would pacify their people back home in Ondo.
Johnson also appealed to President Bola Tinubu and other leaders of the party to prevail on the NWC to inaugurate a new election committee chairman to oversee the fresh poll.
He said, “How can you say you want to ratify the outcome of a primary and you declared a candidate? It shows there is foul play. Ondo is APC and APC is Ondo State. We won’t fold our hands and allow opposition parties to snatch Ondo from us.
“That is why we are calling on the party to cancel the primary. There should be a rerun and we want a new person to head the committee that will supervise us. What they did is not a primary election; it was selling the APC ticket. We want a rerun because we are not impressed with the poll.
“We, therefore, invite President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to look into this. We don’t want opposition to take over Ondo State.”
Meanwhile, the APC National Chairman, Ganduje, met with all the 14 aggrieved aspirants and appealed to them to bury their grievances and rally around Aiyedatiwa so the APC could win the November 16 governorship election.
Mo fewer than five of the fellow aspirants had submitted petitions, seeking the cancellation of the election.
They are the senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, Olusola Oke, Folakemi Omogoroye, Olugbenga Edema, Jimi Odimayo, and Wale Akinterinwa.
But addressing the aggrieved aspirants, Ganduje said, “I have to thank you for honouring our invitation in the shortest time available and also considering the emotional distress as a result of the primary that was conducted a few days ago. Since we are all democrats, there is bound to be ups and downs in politics. The purpose of this meeting is to appeal. It is not to dwell on what has happened and what has not; what is correct and what is incorrect. If we dwell on that, it will lead to what we can call ‘too much analysis leads to paralysis.’
“If we are to dwell on that, there are professors, lawyers and learned members among us. Some are engineers, and even the two genders have been accommodated. We who are less educated, the controversy will not cover us, considering the galaxy of politicians who are here.
“Our own is to appeal to you. We in the party here are just insiders and outsiders. We are saying this because it is our party. It is also the ruling party in Ondo State and we are managers of the party in Nigeria. So we are an interested party, even if it is a local election.
“We are outsiders because this state belongs to you. This party also belongs to you. I am sure your prayer is for our party to remain the ruling party in your state. I think that should be the focal point for all of you. Our party should remain the ruling party in Ondo State.”
Ganduje said he recalled that he first took the shot at the Kano State governorship in 1999 but lost out and only achieved his dream 16 years later.
He said, “I was patient enough and kept on praying. Eventually, I became the governor after 16 years. So, I cannot call you aspirants that lost, you are aspirants that will be successful tomorrow.”
The National Deputy Chairman of the APC (South West), Isaacs Kekemeke, and Akinterinwa were however absent.
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