The Ondo State All Progressives Congress Primary Appeal Committee has recommended the cancellation of the governorship primary held in the State on September 3 to produce a candidate for the upcoming election in the State.
It rather recommended the conduct of a fresh primary for the governorship election.
The primary, over which the panel sat, had produced a former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), as the governorship candidate.
The Appeal Committee, headed by Hellen Bendega, said a rerun primary should be held immediately to beat the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Committee for the submission of the names of candidates for the election.
The panel also suggested that the party’s national leadership should revert to the earlier delegates’ list, which was distributed to aspirants in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, shortly before the primary.
According to the committee, a final and properly harmonised list acceptable to all contenders should be compiled.
It said the delegates’ list should bot be released on the eve of the primary, but much earlier to give sufficient time for the take-off of the election and avoid being used in favour of any aspirant.
The panel pointed out that although there was substantial compliance with rules during the primary, “that consideration may not be sufficient reason to ignore such serious and weighty, identified irregularities”.
It added: “In view of the change mantra of this administration, it is pertinent that the party blazes the trail by refusing to condone a less than perfect exercise. We, therefore, formally submit our recommendations for the National Working Committee to use its discretionary powers in line with the APC constitution and the Electoral Act to arrive at a final decision.”
The committee received six petitions.
The complaints came from three aspirants; Chief Olusola Oke, Dr. Olusegun Abraham and Prof. Ajayi Boroffice; the Chairman of Ondo Central APC, Adegboyega Adedipe; his Ondo East counterpart, Akintunde Temitope; and a delegate, Toyin Ajinde.
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