Lucky Aiyedatiwa has won the Ondo All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election, ending a voting process that started on Saturday
The Chairman of the election committee and the Governor of Kogi State Usman Ododo declared him the winner of the exercise in the early hours of Monday.
”I can confirm that the direct mode of primary election adopted in the 2024 Ondo state governorship primary elections held in all 203 electoral wards in all the 18 LGAs in Ondo state,” Ododo said while announcing the governor as the winner of the election.
The Ondo State governor coasted to victory in 16 of the 18 local government areas.
Aiyedatiwa amassed 48,569 votes in the primary to beat his closest rival Mayowa Akinfolarin who polled 15,343 votes in the election. Olusola Oke’s 14,865 votes got him the third position. The governor lost Ilaje LGA to third-placed Oke.
No Time To ‘Hold Grudges’
An excited Aiyedatiwa in his acceptance speech, thanked party members for voting him in as the APC flagbearer.
“To all our party members, I hereby accept, wholeheartedly, the responsibility conferred on me as the candidate of our party by the votes of our members who turned out in large numbers on the 20th of April 2024,” he said.
“Democracy sometimes, after a contest like this, comes with discordant tunes. But this is not the time to hold grudges against anyone but for all of us to come together to work for the success of our great party so as to remain in power,” the governor said.
Controversy and Protests
Incidents of violence marred the election in Ifedore leading to cancellation of results.
The primary which was held on Saturday saw several of the contestants alleging the elections didn’t take place anywhere
One such Folakemi Omogoroye, a female aspirant described the process as a “complete rape on democracy.” calling for the cancellation
Omgoroye also lamented the absence of election officials and voting materials at voting centres, saying her supporters could not exercise their right to vote.
“I am not going to accept it, and now, I am calling for cancellation and if this is not done, maybe we’ll meet in the court,” she said while threatening legal action if her demand for a fresh and transparent election were not me
Equally, disgruntled party faithful took to the streets of Akure to demand the annulment of the exercise and the removal of Ododo as the committee’s chair.
The protesters took their dissatisfaction to the APC state secretariat in Akure alleging irregularities in the conduct of the ward primaries across the 203 wards of the state.
They described the process as a daylight robbery and urged the national secretariat of the APC not to allow the state to be embroiled in crisis.
One of the protesters claimed no ward primaries were held, insisting that the guidelines given by the national secretariat of the party were not followed as the committee did not distribute materials to any wards.
The party members warned of likely consequences if an unpopular candidate is imposed on them as it could affect the chances of the party in the governorship election.
With the primary settled, Aiyedatiwa’s attention now shifts to the main election billed for November.
His victory came about three months after he assumed office as the governor of the South-West state, taking over from his late principal Rotimi Akeredolu who died of prostate cancer following months of battling the illness.
