Aspirants kick as Oyetola wins Osun APC gov ticket
Senator Ovie
Omo-Agege, who acted as the Chairman of the APC Governorship Primary Election
Panel, announced the result of the election on Friday night.
Oyetola, who
is from Iragbiji, Boripe Local Government Area,
in the Osun Central Senatorial District won the highest number of votes
in the primary .
He polled
127,017 votes to defeat the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr.
Lasun Yusuf; the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Dr. Najeem Salam;
Mr. Kunle Adegoke; Mr. Saka Layonu (SAN), and other contestants.
The Deputy
Speaker of the House of Representatives came second with 21,975 votes while the
Speaker of the House of Assembly came third with 17,958.
Some of the
governorship aspirants had announced their withdrawal from the race shortly
before the exercise started.
Their
withdrawal came as the party went ahead with the direct primary method where
supporters queued behind the agents of their preferred aspirants after which
the Chief of Staff to the Osun State Governor, Oyetola, took an early lead.
One of the
aspirants, who participated in the primary, Mr. Kunle Adegoke, described the
exercise as a charade, saying it was skewed to favour the winner.
Adegoke
said, “What we experienced in Osun today is not a primary in any way. It was a charade and it was in
contravention of basic tenets of democracy.
“I will not
dump the party because of the issues. I will remain in the party and correct
this anomaly by challenging the process in court.”
He lamented
that the party conducted the primary without a verifiable membership data base
despite using the direct primary method
instead of a delegate system.
He also
alleged that hoodlums were used to harass and coerce members of the party to
vote for Oyetola and that those that resisted were beaten by the thugs.
The Senator
representing the Osun East Senatorial District, Babajide Omoworare; Secretary
to the Osun State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; and the Chairman of the
Osun State Local Government Service Commission, Mr. Peter Babalola, had
withdrawn from the election before its commencement.
Adeoti
announced his withdrawal from the primary
in a statement made available to our correspondent by the Director of
Media and Publicity, Moshood Adeoti Campaign Organisation, Mr. Kayode Agbaje.
Omoworare’s
decision not to participate in the exercise was contained in a statement by his
Director of Communications, Mr. Tunde Dairo, while Babalola’s decision to
boycott the election was monitored on Rave FM, an Osogbo-based private radio station.
Adeoti’s
statement partly read, “Alhaji Moshood Adeoti has formally withdrawn his
participation from today’s governorship primary of the party. His withdrawal is
based on his decision not to add credibility to a skewed and jaundiced process
already designed to favour an anointed aspirant.”
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