TheCable

The faction of the Osun All Progressive Congress (APC) led by Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior, has alleged “widespread irregularities” in the party’s governorship primary election.

The faction described the election as “a sham with a fraudulent process to favour Governor Adegboyega Oyetola“.

Intra-party fracas has splintered Osun APC into two factions.

One faction is loyal to the minister while the other belongs to the camp of the governor of the state.

Aregbesola’s faction is backing Moshood Adeoti, a former secretary to the state government, to clinch the party’s gubernatorial ticket.

The crisis had heightened anxiety among members of the ruling party in the state ahead of the primary election.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Abiodun Agboola, spokesperson of the Aregbesola faction, said it got “verified information” from its agents that “there is no record and result sheets in any of the 332 wards of the state”.

The group further alleged that “the figure declared for Oyetola was highly inflated in the affected wards”.

“It is necessary and important to inform the general public and Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq led Osun APC Primary Election Committee of the ongoing irregularities in the conduct of the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State of Osun,” the statement reads.

“We strongly condemned the conduct of the primary election because it is nothing but a sham with a fraudulent process to favour Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.

“Verified information from the agents of Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, our governorship aspirant, has it that there is no record and result sheets in any of the 332 wards of the state.

“Also, there was no proper accreditation in the majority of the ward collation centres where voting took place. The accreditation done in some places were skewed in favour of Governor Gboyega Oyetola as members of the group were allowed to pass through the accreditation process without much ado.

“Names of a sizable number of members of the APC who wanted to vote for Adeoti were missing in the register of the party. This we had envisaged by calling for the display of party register before the conduct of the primary.

“We also need to inform the general public that appointees of governor Adegboyega Oyetola were used as Collation Officers, which made the rigging plan of Oyetola an easy task. This we strongly condemned yesterday at the stakeholders meeting with the Primary Committee.

“Loyalists and supporters of Adeoti are being chased and some were brutally attacked in wards where they have strong presence. Oriade, Olorunda and Osogbo, Odo-Otin, Boripe and Ile-Ife are the worst of this act of intimidation and disenfranchisement.

“When results of the election were announced (not recorded), the figure declared for Oyetola was highly inflated in the affected wards.

“INEC officials were noticeably absent in most of the wards to monitor the election.

“This is unacceptable. It is a shame that a sitting governor could result in malpractices in his desperate bid to secure a second term ticket.”

The group added that the “Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq-led Osun APC Primary Election Committee should know that the primary lacks credibility and fairness”.