APC Primaries: Governor Abiodun emerges Ogun gubernatorial candidate

#ElectionBuzzNig’23

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun has emerged winner of the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress APC in Ogun State, South West Nigeria.

Governor Abiodun polled a total of 1,168 votes to defeat the five other contestants for the APC ticket while others scored zero vote respectively.

The five aspirants are: former House of Representatives member, Adekunle Akinlade; former Special Adviser to Abiodun on Media, Modele Sarafa – Yusuf, Remilekun Bakare, Owodunni Opayemi and Biyi Otegbeye.

Announcing the results of the governorship primary election, chairman of the APC’s 5-man governorship primary election panel, Wale Ohu said a total of 1,180 delegates from 236 wards spreads across the 20 Local Government Areas of the state were accredited, while a total of 1,170 votes were cast, with two void vote.

Governor Abiodun expressed satisfaction and appreciation over the conduct of the exercise, and commended the Wale Ohu led primary election panel for “conducting a transparent election“.

The Governor promised to continue with massive turnaround of the state with various infrastructural development.

He appreciated the people of the state for their continuous support and prayers.

“Today’s victory is not unexpected, because I recalled that two weeks ago, some youths went to Abuja and bought the form for me. Also a week ago, some group paid me the amount worth of the APC governorship election form. Today, I am very proud of the landslide victory. I now promise again to keep doing what we have been doing in the past. We will not rest on our oars”.

Vote-of-no-confidence

Meanwhile, two out of the four governorship aspirants of the party has passed vote of no confidence on the 5-man election panel under the chairmanship of Wale Ohu.

The duo of Adekunle Akinlade and Biyi Otegbeye expressly declared that Ohu as the chairman of the gubernatorial primary election in the state, lacked the capacity and integrity to conduct an objective, free and fair gubernatorial primary election for the state on the ground that “he is a partisan politician“.

In a statement jointly signed by the duo, they queried the credentials of Ohu to have earned him the chairmanship of the election committee again, alleging that previous exercises which he handled for APC in Ogun State still accounted for the prevailing disaffection among party members.

Akinlade and Otegbeye alleged that the Ohu-led APC governorship election committee did not make available to them, the delegates form as stipulated in the guidelines for the conduct of the exercise, but made such available to Governor Dapo Abiodun, a development which they said was abnormal.

The duo said though, they would participate in the primary election because of their loyalty to the party and respect for its leadership, they however warned that post gubernatorial primary election dispute may be inevitable if the election panel failed to make available the authentic delegates list to the other aspirants before the commencement of the exercise.

Wale Ohu was the Chairman of the ward, local government and state congresses committees in Ogun state in 2021. The three congresses ended in controversies and deepened the cleavages within the APC in Ogun state.

The exercise which was held at the main bowl of the MKO Abiola Stadium, in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, was under the watchful eye of heavy security personnel including the Nigerian Army.

Emmanuel Ukoh