Ogun: APC NWC declares Dapo Abiodun winner of Ogun governorship primary

Declaring the result of the governorship primary election conducted on Wednesday throughout the 236 wards across the 20 Local Governments Area of Ogun State, the Chairman of the Committee, Muhammad Ndabawa, said Prince Abiodun polled 102, 305 votes to emerge winner. Ndabawa added that other contestants – Jimi Lawal  scored 51, 153 votes while Abimbola Ashiru polled  29, 764 votes.

Other contestants, Senator Gbenga Kaka  got 17,771 votes and Abayomi Hunye  9,110 votes while Adekunle Akinlade scored 23, 443 votes. The electoral chairman for the state however noted that the declaration of Prince Dapo Abiodun winner  of the primary and governorship candidate of APC in Ogun state for 2019 governorship election, is “subject to ratification by the National Working Committee” of the party.

Fielding questions from reporters regarding the primary earlier conducted by Committees set up  by the Ogun state APC and subsequent declaration of Abdukabir Adekunle Akinlade winner and gubernatorial candidate by the state Chairman, Chief Derin Adebiyi, Ndabawa said he was ” not aware of such primary.”

He added  that the Committee he led, is the “authentic body constituted by the NWC” to conduct and supervise governorship primary in the state in line with the party guidelines and constitution. The announcement of Abiodun, an oil magnate and real estate operator from Iperu town in Ogun East Senatorial district of the state, came barely six hours after Akinlade was also declared winner in a primary conducted on Tuesday, allegedly, without the Committee from Abuja playing a part in it.

The state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Derin Adebiyi, had on Wednesday afternoon  declared Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s man, Hon. Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade, as the winner of the purported governorship primary, allegedly, conducted by the governor’s caucus of the party.

Adekunle Akinlade, current member of House of Representatives (Yewa South/Ipokia Federal Constituency, polled 190,987 votes to emerge winner in the controversial direct primary conducted on Tuesday. Other contestants – Jimi Lawal came in a distant second position with 5,046 votes while  Dapo Abiodun garnered 3,648 votes followed by Abimbola Ashiru with 898 votes, Senator Gbenga Kaka with 833 votes and Abayomi Hunye with 208 votes.

Declaring Akinlade the winner on Wednesday at the APC State Secretariat on Abiola Way, Abeokuta, Adebiyi said Akinlade polled the highest number of valid votes in the primaries.

The state party chairman added that the primary was conducted throughout the 236 wards in Ogun  by Local Government and ward election committees constituted by the state chapter of the party “in compliance with the constitution of our party and the guidelines released by the National Working Committee (NWC) All Progressives Congress.”

Adebiyi told reporters that he elected to announce the result and declared the winner instead of leaving it to be done by the Muhammad Ndabawa-led electoral committee, saying  the committee was heavily compromised. Adebiyi said: “the Committee was here and they were emphatic, after cancelling the exercise twice, the the election would hold yesterday, this is after we’ve submitted names of local committee and venues in obedience to the guideline.

“Yesterday morning, they still agreed that the primary would hold and we mobilised to our different wards but we waited endlessly as the phone numbers or committee members were switched off and electoral materials not available. “Up till now, we don’t know the whereabouts of the committee and we’ve not seen them at the party’s Secretariat. They’ve been heavily and highly compromised.

“The guideline is straight and unambiguous, its open secret ballot which is option A4 but they said they brought ballot papers from Abuja, in a direct primary? To do what?”

The party chairman noted that  the Election Committee from the National headquarters of the party in Abuja directed that the governorship primaries should be held on 2nd October 2018 which prompted the closure of all primary and secondary schools by the state government for the exercise. According to him, “the governorship primaries were conducted and monitored by the relevant agencies.”