The Appeal Committee raised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the Osun State governorship primary has explained why it threw out the petition of an aspirant, Moshood Adeoti against the choice of Governor Gboyega Oyetola as the candidate for July 16 election.
According to the panel said Adeoti, a former Secretary to the Osun State Government (SSG) the preferred choice of Internal Affairs Minister Rauf Aregbesola, did not furnish the committee with any particular(s) on any of the issues raised in his petition.
The panel said no member of the party was disenfranchised before and during the voting exercise.
The verdict of the committee was contained in a report signed by Ex-Governor Saad Birnin-Kudu (Chairman); Rt. Hon. Suraju Adekunbi; Sen. Binta Masi Garba; Rt. Hon. Eugene Odo; and Mr. Bayo Aina.
After submitting his report of the Osun State Governorship Primary Election Committee to the party’s Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), last Thursday, Chairman and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said that the party and the administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola “are alive, strong and popular.”
He based his judgement on the massive and peaceful voter turnout at the February 19 direct primary in which Oyetola emerged victorious.
The appeal panel report said: “The Appeal Committee received only one petition from Alh. Moshood Adeoti on the 22nd of February, 2022, through his lawyer, Aderemi Blessing and Co.
“The committee extensively deliberated on the petition and identified key issues as follows:
Non-accreditation of voters in many of the wards in the state.
Disenfranchisement of eligible voters.
Non-availability of result sheets in various wards across the state.
Vote allocation in favour of one of the contestants (Governor Gboyega Oyetola).
Recruitment of the governor’s loyalists as electoral officers for the elections.
General harassment and intimidation of voters.
“The Appeal Committee invited the following monitoring field officers who supervised the primary election in some local government areas in the state: Ahmed Temitope Oyewole; Adedapo Babatunde; and Ashonibare Temitope T.
“All of them testified to the fact that the election was conducted in accordance with the party guidelines in a peaceful atmosphere and even where the names of voters did not appear on the register, they were allowed to vote on the presentation of their membership card/ slip as earlier agreed by all the stakeholders in the state.
“Accordingly, the Appeal Committee found out as follows: That the petitioner did not furnish the committee with any particular(s) on any of the issues he raised in the petition.
“The election was generally peaceful in all the wards of the state, except in Iwo Ward 12, Atakumosa East Ward 6, Ifelodun Ward 10 and Ifelodun Ward 11 that were canceled.
“That no member of the party was disenfranchised before and during the voting exercise; that the result sheets were made available in all the wards in the state.
“That the allegation of arbitrary allocations of votes in favour of any contestants was not established. There was no evidence that the governor or any other contestants loyalists.
“There was no report to any security agencies or investigation made on account of harassment and intimidation of voters in the Osun State primary elections.”
Dismissing the petition the report added: “The committee, having deliberated extensively on the petition, is of the view that it lacks merit.”
But Adeoti’s ally, Abiodun Agboola, debunked the dismissal of their petition. He claimed that the appeal panel was yet to sit of the petition which was filed on February 22.
Agboola stated that Adeoti’s lawyers were at the National Secretariat of the APC on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (last week) to know and meet the Appeal Committee.
He claimed: “They were told that the National Secretariat was yet to constitute the committee and up till now, we are not aware of any Appeal Committee on the Osun APC governorship primary.
“We are however surprised to read the junks, or better put, rumour, on social media that the Appeal Committee had sat and dismissed Alhaji Adeoti’s petition. We urge the general public to disregard such rumour.
“As far as we are concerned, the Appeal Committee is yet to be constituted, because Adeoti or his lawyers were never informed of any, nor invited to appear before any to defend the petition against the sham called an election.
“It will be an act of impunity and total disregard to democratic process if truly the Appeal Committee had sat and dismissed Adeoti’s appeal without due process.
“We are still waiting for official information from the national secretariat on our party on the Appeal Committee. As far as we are concerned, the purported dismissal of Adeoti’s petition is still a rumour.”
AbdulRazaq, whose committee supervised the APC primary on February 19, said: “I must report back to the party that the APC is alive and strong in Osun. The governor is doing well and the party is doing exceedingly well.
“Aregbesola has done well and Oyetola has built on it magnificently. The infrastructures are superb. We saw bridges being constructed, schools, human capital development.
“Incidentally, I made enquiries on the FAAC allocations. There used to be a deduction of about an N2.4 billion monthly. That has reduced as well, slightly over N1 billion monthly. Another N70 billion has been repaid in loans by the state government.
“So, the state is on a right track and it showed in the outcome of the primary that the government is in touch with the people. I urge Nigerians to visit Osun State. It is arguably the most peaceful state in Nigeria, of course after Kwara state.”
On the shadow election, the Kwara helmsman said: “We are glad that we were able to deliver a credible election in which all the stakeholders and people of Osun are happy about.”
The CECPC National Secretary, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, received the report on behalf of the CECPC Chairman, Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni.
