…As minister loses ward to governor
Supporters of Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, and that of the Minister of Interior, Ra’uf Aregbesola, have expressed mixed feelings on the conduct of yesterday’s governorship primary of the All Progressive Congress, (APC), in the State.
While Oyetola’s supporters described the exercise as peaceful and impressive, Aregbesola’s faction said the exercise was full of irregularities.
But, commenting, the Deputy Governor of the State, Benedict Alabi, described the exercise as peaceful, while the turnout was impressive. Alabi, at his Ward 006 in Ikire, Irewole Isokan LGA, said the party members were orderly and that there were no reported cases of violence.
Meanwhile, the factional chairman of the party, loyal to Aregbesola, Razak Sanisile, said the primary was “full of anomalies”. Salinsile told newsmen, at his Ward 004, Isale-Oba, in Iwo LGA, of the State, that the party’s register was not made available to them.
Also, the Publicity Secretary of a faction in the State chapter of the APC, Abiodun Agboola, who is backed by the Interior Minister, has alleged irregularities in yesterday’s governorship primary. In an issued press statement, he condemned the conduct of the election, saying the exercise was planned to favour Oyetola.
Similarly, the Chairman of Ward 008, Ilesa-East LGA, Adegoke Saheed, a loyalist of Aregbesola, said the process was full of irregularities.
Saheed alleged that the party’s register used for the primary was different from the one used during the registration, pointing out that names of their members were missing on the register. He said the absence of Aregbesola, whom he claimed was on an official assignment by President Muhammadu Buhari, did not allow his complaint to receive attention.
However, the Chairman of the Primary Committee, AbdulRahman AbdulRazak, commended the peaceful conduct of the exercise.
AbdulRazak, who spoke to newsmen while monitoring the exercise in Iragbiji, lauded the party members for their impressive turnout and peaceful conduct. He said that peaceful conduct contradicted the expectations of many over the exercise.
He also alleged that Oyetola’s appointees were used as Collation Officers for the exercise, claiming that the development made manipulation of the election easy.
Meanwhile, the Aregbesola has broken his silence after losing his ward in the ongoing All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary to Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
The minister charged his followers not to take laws into their hands over his claim that government officials and notable supporters of Governor Oyetola officiated in the APC primary election in the State and how the votes recorded for him were more than the number of voters accredited in many units.
Aregbesola, who vowed to resort to peaceful and legal means to address the matter in order to obtain justice, in a statement made available by his Media Adviser, Sola Fasure said, “please leave the rest to the Almighty God”.
