THE All Progressives Congress (APC) held its governorship primaries across states of the federation, with winners emerging at the end of the exercise on Thursday.
OGUN
Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has secured re-election ticket as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
At the governorship primary election held at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, Abio- dun defeated his other contenders with a total votes of 1,168.
Other contestants were Honourable Adekunle Akinlade; Mrs Modele Sarafa-Yusuf; Mr Owodunni Opayemi; Chief Biyi Otegbeye, and Chief Remi Bakare who scored zero vote in the election supervised by a five-man panel headed by Chief Wale Ohu.
The election was monitored by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Mrs Ogundana Helen.
The chairman announced Abiodun as the winner of the election after delegates drawn from the 236 wards of 20 local government areas of the state cast their votes.
He explained that 1,180 delegates were accredited for the election. Ohu said, “Prince Adedapo Abiodun, having scored the highest majority votes cast, is hereby declared the winner of the APC governorship primary election in Ogun State and he is hereby declared the governorship candidate of APC to stand in the 2023 governorship election in the state.”
The governor in his acceptance speech described his victory as one that he will savour for life. Meanwhile, two governorship aspirants, Adekunle Akinlade and Biyi Otegbeye, have rejected the governorship primary election committee headed by Ohu.
The aspirants in a statement jointly signed and addressed to the national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, queried the credential of Ohu which earned him the position to oversee the gubernatorial primary election.
They submitted that Ohu is a partisan politician, and therefore cannot conduct an objective and impartial election. Akinlade and Otegbeye argued that the panel did not make the delegates’ forms available to them, as stipulated in the guidelines for the conduct of the exercise.
They submitted that the forms were only made available to Governor Abiodun.
LAGOS
Meanwhile, with 1,170 delegate votes in his favour, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu won the governorship primaries of Lagos State chapter of the APC to become the party’s standard-bearer in the 2023 general election.
The electoral process commenced at 12:33 pm with the arrival of the chairman of the Lagos gubernatorial primaries committee led by the former deputy governor of Borno State, Alhaji Adamu Shettima Yuguda.
The electoral committee’s arrival was followed by immediate accreditation of delegates across the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Of all the 1,225 delegates expected to participate in the primary, the electoral committee accredited 1,198 delegates seated at the venue.
A total of 1,182 votes were cast during the primary; 1,170 valid votes were in favour of Sanwo-Olu, while 12 votes were invalid.
Having garnered the highest votes, Shettima returned Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the process, stressing that two other aspirants who were supposed to contest in the primary had been disqualified by the party’s screening committee prior to the exercise.
Aspirants disqualified are Abdulhameed Olorunfemi Mustapha and Wale Oluwo. Reacting to the outcome of the primary, Sanwo-Olu dedicated the victory to all party members, describing them as the main winners of the exercise.
Oluwo, following the declaration slammed the primary election as a sham. In a statement Olowu, a former commissioner in the state, accused both the national leadership and the state executive of the party, of being complicit in the alleged fraud that trailed the exercise.
He said, “I implore my teeming supporters to remain calm and law-abiding, despite the provocations. We will continue to seek redress from the internal dispute resolution mechanisms of the party, without foreclosing the enforcement of our rights to seek justice in the court of law.”
BORNO
In Borno State, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum emerged as the winner of the just concluded All Progressives Congress governorship primary in the state.
Declaring the winner, chairman of the APC governorship and House of Assembly primaries for Borno State, Uba Maigari Ahmadu, announced that Zulum won with 1,411 votes out of 1,422 votes accredited.
According to him, 1,560 registered for the primaries but only 1,422 voters were accredited. He urged members of the party to work together to ensure its victory in the forthcoming general elections in the state.
While accepting the result, Zulum thanked the delegates who elected him to run for the second term thereby rejecting the offer for him to become vice president.
KWARA
In the same vein, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State was on Thursday, elected to contest for second term during the governorship primary held in Ilorin on Thursday evening.
The governor was elected through affirmation by five delegates each from 193 wards, making a total of 965 accredited delegates.
The national officer of the APC that conducted the primaries, Emmanuel DanDaura, the delegates were made to go through affirmation since the governor was the only candidate that submitted expression of interest form to the national headquarters of the party.
The governor in his brief remarks after the conduct of the primary thanked the delegates and members of the party, saying, “I didn’t take your support for granted”.
ZAMFARA
Meanwhile, Governor Bello Mattawale of Zamfara State also emerged as the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the 2023 governorship election in the state.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that Mattawale won the primary election after his only opponent, Abdulmalik Garba Gajam, pulled out from the contest few minutes before the election began at the Sardauna Memorial Stadium in Gusau, the state capital, on Thursday.
Announcing the results of the election, the chairman electoral committee for Zamfara State, Babagana Tijjani Banki, said that 735 delegates were accredited to vote.
He disclosed that Governor Mattawale got the whole 733 votes, thereby securing the party’s ticket. In his acceptance speech, Mattawale thanked all the delegates for finding him worthy to be the party’s standard bearer in the 2023 election.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Zamfara State, Professor Babura, and some INEC staffs witnessed the primaries in the state.
DELTA
Similarly, deputy Senate president, Ovie Omo-Agege, also secured the APC governorship ticket for next year election in Delta State.
Of the 1,235 accredited delegates from the 25 council areas, Omo Agege polled 1,190 as the sole aspirant while one invalid vote was recorded. The election was monitored by officials of INEC led by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Monday Udoh-Tom.
Declaring the results, the returning officer, Mrs Oyibo Nwaneri, certified that OmoAgege, having scored the highest number of valid votes is hereby declare winner of this primary election. Speaking shortly after collecting his certificate of return, the deputy senate president commended the conducted of APC faithful, and thanked all party officials and members for the confident reposed in him.
EBONYI
The speaker of the Ebonyi House of Assembly, Chief Francis Nwifuru also won the APC gubernatorial primaries in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Nwifuru polled 743 votes to defeat four other aspirants in the exercise conducted inside the Pa Ngele Oruta Stadium, Abakaliki.
Mrs Rosemary Ofoke came second in the exercise with 63 votes, Senator Julius Ucha came third with 22, Chief Elias Mbam scored 10 votes and Chief Edward Nkwegu, eight votes.
Mr Emmanuel Adebayo, chairman of the party’s committee for the primaries declared Nwifuru the winner and commended all the contestants for their mature conduct.
Adebayo announced that a total of 855 delegates were accredited for the exercise while the total votes cast were 854.
Nwifuru, in his remarks, thanked God for his emergence and Governor David Umahi for his fatherly disposition and support. The primary was monitored by representatives of the INEC in the state.
Additionally, the situation led to the aggrieved members holding parallel primaries including that of the gubernatorial position.
GOMBE
Meanwhile, Gombe State governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, on Thursday secured the approval of the APC delegates for his second term ticket to run for the governorship election in 2023 under the party.
The governor was declared winner and candidate for the party by Dr Danjuma Dabo, the APC state’s Returning Officer for the primary election after securing the 563 delegates voice votes.
Inuwa Yahaya, who was first elected in 2019, appreciated the support given to him by the delegates to fly the party’s flag again.
While declaring the results, Danjuma Dabo explained that five delegates were elected across 114 wards of the 11 Local Government Areas of the state but due to various challenges, only 563 were ratified instead of 570.
He also said that the governor had proven himself by securing the votes of the entire delegates without any dissenting voice.
In his response, Inuwa Yahaya lauded the delegates.
ABIA
Chief Ikechi Emenike on Thursday also emerged as the standard bearer of the APC. In the party’s governorship primary held in Umuahia, he polled 672 votes to beat his closest rival, Honourable Emeka Atuma who polled 150 votes.
By this result, Emenike will have to contend with the PDP flag bearer, Prof. Uche Eleazar ikonne who emerged Wednesday.
Midway into the election, Honourable Emeka Atuma, Dr Uche Ogah, Obinna Oriaku and Prince Paul Ikonne protested the electoral process used, indirect instead of direct election process.
Addressing the press jointly at the venue, Ogah, Oriaku and Ikonne rejected the use of indirect process stating that the party at the national level had instructed that direct process be used.
Earlier in the day prior to the primary, Chief Daniel Eke had in a press conference expressed his dissatisfaction over the process.
He said as an aspirant, he was kept in the dark about the details of the primary, assuring he would take it up with the party headquarters.
In his acceptance speech after the primary, the winner, Ikechi Emenike said his victory is “first step towards liberating Abia.
“It has been a long tortuous journey. This is the beginning of the beginning. Now is not the time to sit on the fence.
“Our mission first is to rescue Abia and develop the state”, he said. Bob Uwaga was the Returning Officer
Abe, supporters boycott Rivers guber primary as Tonye Cole emerges
the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held primaries for its governorship candidate on Thursday, Senator Magnus Abe and some of his supporters in the party did not participate in the exercise.
Abe, who represented the Rivers South-East senatorial district at the seventh assembly, had the ambition to become the governor of Rivers State, though this had pitched him against his erstwhile friend, immediate past Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.
Political watchers had thought the losses of 2019 general election when the disagreement cost them participation in the election would have been a motivation for them to seek settlement, but unfortunately the two are sticking to their different extremes at the expense of peace and unity in the party.
A prominent member of the Abe’s faction and former Chief of Staff, Government House under Amaechi, Chief Tony Okocha, announced that their faction of the party would not participate in the primaries.
In a terse statement on some verified social media platforms, the South-South coordinator, Bola Ahmed Tinubu Support- Vanguard, described the primaries as “skewed, biased and prejudiced process.”
He said, “Please kindly take this as official statement that we are not participating in an already skewed, biased and prejudiced process in Rivers.
“All our teeming supporters are advised not to dissipate scarce energies in a process that will not pass muster.”
He enjoined supporters to remain vigilant as “we continue to bring you up to speed with unfolding events. More than resolutely keep faith with the struggle. He who laughs last, laughs best.”
Asked whether he was also indicating that Senator Abe was part of the boycott, Okocha said, “I don’t speak for Magnus.”
At the primary election, held on Thursday, Tonye Cole emerged the governorship candidate of the APC.
He was declared winner in the keenly contested primaries of the party at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Omuagwa, after polling 986 out of 1308 votes.
The scores were recorded as follows, Tonye Cole – 986 votes, Ojukaye FlagAmachree – 190, Sokonte Davies – 49, Micheal West – 43, Bernard Mikko – 2, and Magnus Abe -1 vote.
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