Suspected political thugs disrupt Ondo APC primary

The primaries election to the House of Representatives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akure North/South Federal Constituency and Ifedore/Idanre Federal Constituency were on Saturday marred with violence,  as miscreants suspected to be political thugs disrupted the voting process.

The primary of the Akure North/South which was held at the Ade Super Hotel along Ilesha garage road was said to be initially scheduled to hold at International Event Centre, Dome, was moved to another venue.

The process was, however, disrupted by thugs said to be loyal to a particular politician after the votes cast had been sorted out and noted that the votes were not in the favour of his principal.

The political thugs forcefully gained entrance into the hall, beating the security at the entrance and took the ballot box from the agents before the security operatives could stop him, while other miscreants descended on the voters and delegates

All the delegates, party faithful, electoral officers, journalists and security personnel had to leave the premises of the primary following the outbreak of the violence, while the political thugs confronted the police who later drove them away from the venue.

The hoodlums, however,  took to the major road firing gunshots, disrupting vehicular and pedestrian movement, while shops and houses around the area were locked up to avoid invasion by the thugs.

However, the electoral officers resumed after the dust raised by the disruption settled, and a former House of Representatives member, Derin Adesida, was declared the winner of the contest.

It was gathered that the agents with the ballot papers escaped from the thugs with the ballot and returned for the ballot to be counted, while Derin Adesida polled 68 votes to beat the current House of Representatives member, Mayokun Alade who scored 37 and Femi Fadairo polled five votes.

Adesida was, however, declared the winner of the contest by the returning officer, Adeyemi Akola.

The situation was not different in Ifedore/Idanre Federal Constituency, as tension enveloped the atmosphere at the venue of the election in Igbara-Oke, in Ifedore local government area of the state.

The process was ongoing when the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Oleyelogun who was contesting the ticket called for the discontinuation of the process, alleging that his agent was beaten and needed to be attended to.

Oleyelogun insisted that the election should be halted alleging threat to his life and the election should be cancelled while the voting process is almost completed.

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The voting was at the tail end when a delegate was accused of snapping her ballot paper and Oloyelogun’s agent snatched the delegate’s phone from her which also resulted in a hot argument and led to fracas between the supporters of the two contestants.

The election was put on hold for about 45 minutes despite the intervention of police and electoral officers, the Speaker insisted that the primary should be put on hold while it was suggested that the votes should be counted since only few delegates are yet to vote out of 115 delegates.

The votes were counted being counted at the time of filing this report, but a source within the hall said that the incumbent lawmaker, Tajudeen Adefisoye, is coasting to victory.

In Owo /Ose Federal Constituency,  the lawmaker representing the constituency, Timehin Adelegbe defeated Dr Abiola Oshodi with 101 votes to 9 votes.

In Ondo West/East Federal Constituency,  Hon. Abiola Makinde defeated three other aspirants, winning with 96 votes, Olumbe Akinkugbe, with 9 votes and Babajide Akinwolere with no votes.