By BASHIR ADEFAKA
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared Mr. Dap Abiodun as winner of the Party’s governorship primary election in Ogun State.
The National Secretariat was coming after Tuesday rescheduled poll where, against its guidelines, the state chapter of APC went ahead and declared Hon. Abdul-Kabir Akinlade as winner of the governorship election.
Akinlade had been generally believed to be the candidate of Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who the governor had earlier announced as consensus candidate before he made a u-turn to abide by the mode of primary elections conduct as laid out by the NWC.
However, in an NWC properly conducted exercise, Abiodun emerged winner after scoring 102,305 votes with second person, Jimi Lawal standing at a distant 51,153 votes pushing the hitherto winner, Akinlade to a third position with 23,443 votes.
Other contestants included Bimbo Ashiru who came fourth with 29,764 and former Ogun State Deputy Governor Senator Sefiu Adegbenga Kaka coming fifty polling 17,771 with Mr. Abayomi Semako Koroto returning home with 9,610.
Whereas Akinlade comes from Ogun West senatorial district that is the Yewa zone in the state, Abiodun is from Ogun East senatorial district that is the Ijebu zone and specifically Iperu Remo in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state where the late sage, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo came from.
Prince Dapo Abiodun is believed to favour the Chief Olusegun Osoba group for the first time since he had been screened out of relevance by Governor Amosun in the last eight years.
Although Senator Kaka contested in the primaries, some watchers of event in the state hinted The DEFENDER that it was a mere game as the former deputy governor and Abiodun belong to the same Osoba group.
Although none of the contestants has been able to make his reaction known to The DEFENDER as at time of filing this report, what they however wanted was a clear, free, fair and credible process as, according an early comment by one of them, “We will not make this primary election a do-or-die but the process must be fair and credible, that’s all.”
In a statement copy of which was made available to The DEFENDER on Thursday, the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Yekini Nabena, disclosed the conclusion of the apex body of the party over the Ogun governorship primaries.
Nabena said, “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) announces Mr. Dapo Abiodun as winner of the Party’s Ogun State governorship primaries. Abiodun won the Primary Election after scoring 102,305 votes.”
The chairman of the electoral panel set up by the NWC for the Ogun State primaries, Alhaji Mohammed Indabawa, had on Wednesday announced in Abeokuta the state capital, against the state chapter’s declaration of Akinlade, Dapo Abiodun as winner of the voting exercise.
Indabawa flanked by other members of the panel said, “As far as APC is concerned, this committee is the constituted one for the conduct of the election by the party. If there’s any election for the emergence of any other candidate, we are not aware of it in Ogun State, rather than the one so announced by this committee,” he added.
