Ahead of the bye-election for the vacant seat of the Akoko North-West/North-East Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Ifeoluwa Ehindero, has emerged as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the election.
Ehindero defeated eight other aspirants to win the APC ticket in the election which was held at the Victory College, Ikare, with 105 votes while one vote was scored by one of the candidates.
Ehindero will be representing the constituency in the House of Representatives bye-election on February 3, 2024, which became vacant after Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo was appointed the Minister of Interior by President Bola Tinubu.
Meanwhile, eight of the nine aspirants who participated in the primary election have kicked against the conduct of the primary for the federal constituency, saying the process was fraught with irregularities and lacked transparency.
The aspirants which included; Hon. Olugbenga Araoyinbo, Haruna Adesina, Dr. Muyiwa Olusa, Alhaji Olanrewaju Kazeem, Bimbo Makinde, Prince Charles Babalola, Wale Owolabi and Lasisi Mohammed said the outcome of the primary would not be acceptable to them.
They stated that the election lacked transparency, reduced trust and challenged the right to vote of the electorate in the election, noting that the party failed to provide the delegate list before the conduct of the primary, saying none of the aspirants see the delegates list before the election.
But the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Hon Abdukadir M Nasir declared Mr. Ifeoluwa Ehindero as the candidate of the party for Akoko North East/North-West federal constituency after the primary.
Ehindero was declared the winner and scored 105 votes, out of 106 delegates that were cleared for the exercise. Another aspirant, Mr. Makinde, scored one vote.
Ehindero, after declared the winner of the contest, witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said that he’s going to give the people representation that would create a better pedestal for present and future generations in all spheres.
According to him, “I am desirous to be able to influence life positively and to be able to create a greater future for my generation because my generation is a new generation”
Speaking before the primary election, Nasir who was flanked by the APC National officers led by Barrister Joy Akang said they were duly provided with the delegate list, which would be used for the election.
Nasir told the aspirants that his duty was to conduct the primary and not to query what happened before the party primary and what would take place after the primary.
He advised the aspirants to table their grievances before the appeal committee who would handle all matters arising from the contest, saying the mandate of the committee was to conduct the primary election.
In his reaction, Araoyinbo said the aspirants have been schemed out, saying the delegate list was generated by the party at the local governments without the knowledge of the aspirants contesting in the primary election.
He said “As you can see we have been here waiting for the officials, waiting to see the list. We have not been able to get it. Not until about 1:47 pm that the party chairman brought it here. We asked them and they said the party chairman at the state level gave the list out.
“The way forward is that this election can’t hold. We can’t accept the outcome of an election where we don’t have the delegates list. They just brought the list right now.
“With the conduct of the primary, we will lose the election. One single person wrote the list of delegates from the 23 political wards. There was no level playing ground. We have not seen the list as we speak. This is a charade.This is not acceptable.”
Also, another aspirant explained that the aspirants would have canvassed the delegates if they had been aware of who the delegates were before the conduct of the primary.
He said there was no congress at the ward level to elect the delegates who voted in the election “as of now I don’t know who are the delegates. I saw the Chairman of my Local Government and one other person came in with a paper. I was surprised that they did not conduct any congress.”
But reacting, a state party official, denied all the allegations that one single person generated the list, urging the aggrieved aspirants should approach the appeal committee and stop heating the polity.
He advised them to be a true democrat and join hands with the winner of the primary assuring that the party will win the bye election in the federal constituency.
The Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr Alex Kalejaye said the appeal committee would start sitting in Akure, the State capital to see to the grievances of the aspirants.
Kalejaye urged the aspirants to submit their grievances to the Appeal Panel.
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