Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
All Progressives Congress (APC) Senatorial aspirant in Ekiti State, Dr. Olusegun Osinkolu has, again, warned that the party risks losing Ekiti to the opposition in the 2019 elections, if it fails in its duty to address all manners of infractions that dogged the just concluded primaries in the state.
Osinkolu, a senatorial aspirant in Ekiti North district, urged the Prof. Osarhiemen Osunbor-led APC Appeal Primary panel to be painstaking in its duty and attend to all petitions sent by the aggrieved aspirants to prevent disunity ahead of the poll.
Specifically, Osinkolu urged the panel to reverse the primary that produced Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi as the APC senatorial candidate in Ekiti North, describing the candidate’s victory as a product of fraud and that such may jeopardise the chances of the party unless justice prevails in the matter.
Speaking with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday, Osinkolu insisted that Dr. Ibrahim Sule-led National Working Committee on Ekiti National Assembly primaries alleged compromised the primary , by failing to conduct elections in the district.
He urged the Committee to produce authentic video clip in any ward where election was held in Ikole, Moba and Ido/Osi local governments, to convince Nigerians that the primary actually represented the wishes of the APC members.
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“Another question to ask was that, did the National Working Committee mandate the committee to use photocopies of result sheets for the conduct of the election instead of original ?
“Evidence abounded all over the five local governments that lent credence to the fact that photocopies were brought to the wards and people resisted attempt to continue upon realising that it was a product of fraud and well contrived means to rig the election.
“Most disheartening was the culpability of police in this case. They gave protection to election riggers by allowing them to use police stations as sanctuaries in Ikole and Ido/Osi local governments.
“They chased away intending voters for results to be brazenly manipulated in favour of Senator Adetumbi.
“The police gave protection to party thugs in these councils while shooting sporadically in Ikole local government and dispersed party members.
“I began to ruminate on what the intentions behind humiliation of party faithful who came to exercise their rights in support of the party were .
“I am beginning to see that APC is gradually becoming power drunk in Ekiti. The outcome of the July 14 election was expected to be a major strength of our party and watershed for unity and not opportunity for people to become venomous and exhibit unbridled penchant for power grabbing tendencies.
“The positions of the aggrieved aspirants had been articulated before the committee with evidence of how we were overtly rigged out of contention by desperate politicians, in cahoots with the APC primary committee.
“Let me put on record that the action of these election riggers had generated a lot of odium from Ekiti electorate who saw the shootings in some councils during that that primary and viewed the intentions of the perpetrators as eyeing the Senate for personal aggrandisement rather than service to the populace”, he stated.
Osinkolu urged party members to remain calm as they await the outcome of the Appeal panel verdict on the electoral heist that pockmarked the Ekiti North primary.