‘Results Were Allocated’ – Adeyemi, Audu, Others Reject Kogi Governorship Primary Result

Some governorship aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who vied for the party’s governorship ticket in Kogi State on Friday have rejected the outcome of the election describing it as a sham.

The exercise which was held under the direct primary mode following a court’s decision that nullified the delegate lists produced Kogi State governor’s anointed, Ahmed Usman Ododo.

Although there was confusion when the chairman of the election committee, Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State expressed opposition to the manner things were being conducted and stayed away from the election, the secretary of the committee, Patrick Obahiagbon, assumed his role and announced Ododo as the winner.

But at a press briefing on Saturday in Abuja, four aspirants which include Senator Smart Adeyemi, former Minister of State Labour and Productivity, Stephen Ocheni, son of late ex-Governor Abubakar Audu, Shuiabu, and a member of the National Working Committee of the APC, Murtala Yakubu Ajaka, rejected the outcome saying it was flawed.

Speaking for the group, Adeyemi who is a Senator representing Kogi West in the 9th National Assembly said there was no election.

“It was scheduled for yesterday (Friday). The election was supposed to be concluded by 2 pm. Results were prepared even before the commencement of voting,” he explained.

He described it as “the worst form of rigging, it was unprecedented. There was no election.

“For somebody to have the audacity to write results, we are saying the INEC should be prepared to tell Nigerians if an election was conducted.

“None of the officials of INEC and the panel led by Zamfara state governor came out.

“We are aware that Governor Matawalle wasn’t happy with the sham and that was why he left.

“There is a guideline that in the absence of the Chairman, that secretary should not announce the result.

“What we had was allocation of votes. The purported winner is the Auditor General of Kogi,” Adeyemi said.

He added that, “We have no problem with the Governor but the level of his involvement. There was no election at all.

“It was supposed to be a direct primary, people were mobilised but there was no election.”

Adeyemi pointed out that, “Some of us have to organise a parallel Congress.

“If the APC refuses to do what is right, it will be difficult for people to vote for us in Kogi. What happened was a betrayal of democracy. People were not allowed to vote, results were written.

“I want to call on the leadership of the party to avoid the collapse of the party. The tenets of democracy are one man, one vote.”

Also speaking, Audu urged the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevail on the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led NWC not to submit Ododo’s name to INEC, pointing out that, “I was at my Polling Unit, I waited till 6pm, no election materials, no INEC officials.

“It was a sham of a process, the election did not hold.

“I would like to appeal to the NWC to take a look at the sham that happened on April 14.

“I would like to call on the President elect and Vice President to take a look at it. It was a sham of a process and we don’t want it to stand.”

Also, one of the aspirants, Ajaka alleged betrayal, lamenting that, “The people who perpetrated this have no character, I am sure that the NWC won’t allow it to happen.

“The people know their leaders, they know who they want. By next week, the leadership of the party will take a decision.

“The NWC will meet, they can’t present a name without ratification of the NWC. We are standing on justice.

“We aren’t desperate to be Governor but we are desperate for our party to win.”

The aggrieved aspirants further explained that, “We have resolved not to petition the appeal committee but the NWC.

“We learnt they are trying to attack us if we approach the appeal panel. So, we have resolved to avoid going there.”

Adeyemi warned that they may be forced to go to court if the process was not corrected .

He said going to court “should not be ruled out, but we believe that members of the NWC are men of integrity. There was no election and the sham won’t be allowed to stand”.