Ahead of the July 20, governorship primary election in Ondo State, a political group within the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), ‘Ibi Giga Ambassadors’, on Monday, raised the alarm over alleged plans by some aspirants in the party to inject some names on the party register ahead of the poll.
Addressing journalists at the NUJ Press Centre, Akure, the Deputy Director-General, Ibi Giga Ambassadors, Alaba Eniola-Ajipe said individuals who are also governorship aspirants had commenced moves to inject their loyalists into the register with the intention of truncating the chances of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
Eniola-Ajipe who spoke on behalf of the Director General of the group, Lanre Olu-Adeyemi maintained that there is need as a matter of urgency to alert the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiohmole to stop the nefarious activities of these aspirants who have embarked on the process of sabotaging the genuine efforts of the National leadership to conduct a free, fair and transparent primary election.
According to him, the said desperate aspirants and their collaborators in an attempt to have their way if the National leadership of the party adopts Direct Primary as the mode of electing the party candidate in the forthcoming primary poll have gone to Osun state and collated party membership Slips which are in thousands and have been injecting these names on these Slips into a concocted party membership register which they intend to use in Ondo State towns bordering Osun state as these towns are mostly populated by Osun indigenes living here in Ondo state and doing their legitimate businesses for several years now.
He said, “according to our source, the aspirants have perfected plans to ‘smuggle’ into Ondo State, people from Osun State who would appear as eligible Voters in “their various polling Units’ on the day of the primary election if the primary election is Direct mode.
“The other aspirant has also gone as far as to Lagos State to collate thousands of party membership Slips to be used by his supposed supporters thereby designing a new party membership registration Forms which have been distributed secretly across the various Wards in Ondo State.
“We are concerned that this unscrupulous action, if not quickly addressed, portends grave dangers to the fortunes of our great party as we prepare for the party primaries in July 20 and the gubernatorial elections in October 10, 2020.
“We want to put on record that the party membership registration that was done in 2014 formed the existing APC Party Register in Ondo State and it is the only known party membership register that is in existence in Ondo State as at today.”
According to the group, the National Party, the Secretariat is yet to give a directive for the update of Party Membership Registration in Ondo State.
The the group however, said that”we want to put on record that we are mobilising for the re-election of the incumbent Governor whether the mode of the primary election is direct or indirect.
