By Temitope Adedeji in Akure
After initially accepting the results, an aspirant in the just-concluded All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in Ondo State, Mr. Segun Abraham, has now joined Chief Olusola Oke in condemning the outcome of the election that produced Olurotimi Akeredolu as the governorship candidate of the party.
Abraham had earlier issued a press release on Sunday morning, saying the election was free and fair.
But former National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olusola Oke had condemned the process outright, saying it was total fraud.
On Tuesday night, Abraham issued a lengthy statement condemning the outcome of the poll.
He said the results of the election were unacceptable and he would file a petition with the Election Appeals Committee on the issue..
He said: “It is no longer news that as a true democrat, imbued with the best spirit of sportsmanship, I congratulated Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, who purportedly emerged as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the September 3rd Gubernatorial Primary election in Ondo State in the face of palpable disbelief and surprise on the outcome of the primary election by my numerous supporters.”.
He added, however, that “sordid and staggering facts have since emerged on how the process leading to the primary election was manipulated and compromised. It is now beyond doubt that the delegate list used on the day of the primary election was doctored and strangely injected with a mind-blowing number of delegates who are neither executive members of our party nor statutory delegates.
“To say the least, the manipulation of the delegate list, highly skewed accreditation process and the entire processes leading to the conduct of the primary election have cast the darkest stain on the result of the primary election held on the 3rd September, 2016.
“Against this background, coupled with the change and integrity that our party preaches and practices, and having widely consulted with my numerous supporters, I have reached the hour of decision to fall back on the internal mechanism of our great party to seek redress so that the end of justice will be served and more importantly, our democracy may endure.
“To this end, the outcome of the September 3rd APC Governorship primaries in Ondo State is unacceptable and I hereby appeal against same”.
