An aspirant for Igbogbo -Baiyeku LCDA in Lagos State, Adelakun Abayomi has said the Saturday primary election in the LCDA failed to meet expectations of the people, including delegates and aspirants.
According to him, the process was shrouded in shenanigans and secrecy, noting that it was a rape on democratic principles which the leader of the party, President Bola Tinubu stands for.
Addressing a press conference supported by Ikorodu Concerned Leaders of APC, Abayomi called for cancellation of the primary election in Igbogbo -Baiyeku LCDA for a fresh exercise that will be transparent, open and devoid of interference by interested parties.
*Below is the text of the press conference:*
We the umbrella body of Concerned APC Leaders in Ikorodu local government area condemn the Saturday, May 12 conduct of APC primary election in Igbogbo -Baiyeku LCDA.
We are deeply worried that at a time when our party both at the federal and local government level have continued to adopt transparency and openness to entrench democratic norms, so cannot be said of Igbogbo -Baiyeku LCDA, where brigandage and rancour has been the order of the day as a result of imposition, impunity, recklessness and clear flouting of extant laws and electoral principles.
To begin with, we are left at a loss on how 24 delegates were accredited as against 27 that ought to be accredited. That is not all, 26 people ended up voting, raising questions on how additional two people voted and how they came about. It raises a big question mark on the credibility of the process.
It must also be clearly stated that during the sham called primary election, votes were cast in secret in a hall without the aspirants or agents witnessing it. Votes were suppose to be cast openly as witnessed during the national primary election held in Abuja but that was not the case in the last Saturday's primary election in Igbogbo -Baiyeku LCDA.
We were also shocked that in the 26 ballot papers displayed, all the 26 delegates have the same handwriting, when it is really impossible for two people to have the same handwriting. That again faults the credibility of the primary election in Igbogbo -Baiyeku LCDA.
According to the election committee all the 26 votes voted for only 1 aspirant out of 4. How could this be possible? How can none of the four contestants secure a single vote out of the 26?
The remaining 3 aspirants didn't get a single vote, whereas we came with different dedicated number of delegates. Apart from that, delegates were also sent out immediately after voting unlike what we witnessed at the presidential national primary election. It really fell below standard.
The records are also there for everyone to see that some of the delegates that waited till the counting of vote registered their disappointment. They chanted "NO I DIDN'T VOTE FOR THE PERSON DECLARED AS WINNER. Some were visibly in tears for our party because of flagrant and barefaced disrespect that the election committee displayed.
It also took the election committee 45 minutes to bring out the ballot boxes out for counting, after they had perfected their shenanigans. That is very sad for democracy.
Agents were also not allowed access into the voting area. The purpose of each Aspirant taking an agent there was defeated because they were not allowed to witness the voting carried out secretly in a hall and NOT in the open.
We are calling on the leadership of our party to look into this rape on our democracy and reverse the election as it did not by any stretch of imagination reflect the collective will of delegates.
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