Senator Jimoh Ibrahim took his protest over the outcome of the April 20 Ondo State governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the National Assembly in Abuja on Tuesday.
This time round, Ibrahim made fresh allegations against Kogi State Governor, Mr Usman Ododo, and a former Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Movie Omo-Agege, whom he accused of changing the venue of the state collation centre abruptly without giving contestants and other stakeholders prior notice.
Ododo and Omo-Agege were the chairman and secretary respectively of the election committee sent by the APC to conduct the primaries.
He maintains his ground, seeking a repeat of the governorship primaries on the grounds that election was not conducted in 15 out of the 18 local government areas in the state.
Ibrahim, who represents Ondo-South Senatorial District at the Senate, alleged that the outcome of the election was manipulated to favour the Governor of the State, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Speaking with Senate Correspondents at the National Assembly, Ibrahim, who was a contestant in the primaries, accused the APC’s electoral committee chaired by Ododo, of allocating votes, as against conducting genuine polls.
“It was mere allocation of figures, no election. I was not even able to vote”, he said.
Ibrahim called for a repeat of the primaries or the alternative, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should bar the APC from participating in the main election.
Ibrahim, who brandished a document he said was the certified true copy of INEC’s report on the election, claimed that the primaries didn’t take place in up to 127 wards in the state, including Ilaje, the local government of the governor.
He recalled how he informed the National Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Gaduje, of his predicament, whereupon Ganduje directed that the election team should be sent to his house just so that he could vote.
He disclosed that when the team arrived at his house, he sent the members away “because my house was not a designated voting area”, adding that the development was a pointer to the fact that internal democracy hardly thrived in the country.
“We will fight to the Supreme Court .
In 127 of the wards, there was no election. Results were merely allocated. ..15 out of 18 local governments, no election, meaning that in 80% of the state, there was no voting”, he added.
