Kogi APC in crisis as aspirant rejects primary election result

Crisis on Thursday hit the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state as one of the contestants, Dr Willams Akanle, has rejected the result of the election in Kogi West senatorial district.

According to a statement by the Director General of Toyin Akanle campaign organisation, Dayo Akanmode described the primary held in Kabba as a sham, charade and disgrace to democracy.

He said the organisation had in the past few weeks inundated the national secretariat of the APC of the grand plan to impose a preferred candidate on the district by the governor.

The statement pointed out that part of the scheme to rig the primary began when the venue of the primary was had changed many times without informing the aspirants and delegates.

The organisation also said “the tactical delay to begin accreditation till midnight, with a different accreditation venue as earlier announced” was another move made to rig the poll.

He lamented that the state government officials hijacked the process as they dictated what they wanted and how they wanted it.

Akanmode added that a serving commissioner in the state served as the agent of the preferred candidate while other government officials wrote the names of selected delegates to favour the preferred candidate.

He said, “We make bold to state that the plan to begin the election by 3:00 am, even when all the aspirants all agreed for a shift of the election to today (Thursday) owing to delayed commencement and inconsistencies surrounding the poll, only for the result to be announced beats our imagination.

“It should also be noted that as at the time the voting commenced many of the delegates had left. One begins to wonder how the over one thousand seven hundred delegates were manufactured

“That Dr Toyin Akanle and other aspirants were locked out of the supposed venue of the primaries for over twenty minutes when information leaked that the exercise was holding at another discovered venue signal that the plan to rig the poll for governor’s preferred candidate became manifest.

“The campaign organisation, therefore, reject in its entirety the result and outcome of the Kogi west senatorial district primary election, stating that it didn’t meet the minimum standard”.

The statement said that it would forward a complete report of the primary that had constituted danger to Kogi West senatorial district in particular and democracy in general to the appropriate quarters for redress.

• Source: Nigerian Tribune.