Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has been declared the winner of the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress held on Saturday.
Announcing the result very early on Sunday, the Chairman of the governorship primary committee and Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, said Oyetola garnered 222,169 votes, against 12,921 votes that his closest challenger and former Secretary to the Government of the State (SSG), Moshood Adeoti got.
He also said another Oyetola’s challenged and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuf got 460 votes, placing third.
Abdulrazaq expressed that a total of 408,697 voters registered in the primary election of the party, while 247,207 voters were accredited to vote. The total vote cast and valid votes were 235,550.
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Abdulrazaq added that Oyetola won in all the 30 local government areas in the state.
In his remarks, Osun APC chairman, Gboyega Famoodun, commended the diligence of the committee, security agencies and others that worked for the success of the exercise.
The APC conducted the exercise using the direct mode of primary across the 332 wards in the state. This mode allows all party members to choose the candidate of their choice as against the option of using delegates.
The build-up to Saturday’s primary highlighted a division within the ruling party in the state following a disagreement between incumbent Governor Oyetola and his predecessor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola.
This prompted the former governor to seek to unseat Oyetola whom he supported to succeed him in September 2018.
Aregbesola, who serves as the Minister of Interior in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet, has now declared his support for Adeoti, as his anointed candidate for the forthcoming election.
The primary also came with drama and controversy as the members of the camps of the minister and governor traded blames and accusations, including accusing each side of instigating violence.
Both sides denied doing anything to disturb the peace or to illegally influence the outcome of the poll.
Notwithstanding the disagreement, the minister asked members of the party in the state loyal to him to conduct themselves in a peaceful matter throughout the exercise.
While the primary was in progress, the faction of the APC loyal to the minister condemned it.
In a statement by its spokesman, Abiodun Agboola, the faction alleged widespread irregularities in the exercise conducted by the Osun APC Primary Election Committee led by Governor Abdulrasaq of Kwara State.
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Agboola said;
The Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq led Osun APC Primary Election Committee should know that the primary lacks credibility and fairness. It is necessary and important to inform the general public and Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq led Osun APC Primary Election Committee of the ongoing irregularities in the conduct of the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State of Osun.
He added;
We strongly condemn the conduct of the primary election because it is nothing but a sham with a fraudulent process to favour Governor Adegboyega Oyetola. Verified information from the agents of Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, our governorship aspirant, has it that there are no records and result sheets in any of the 332 wards of the state.
Governor Oyetola, on his part commended the process, and described as free and fair after voting.
