Akredolu: victorious in the gubernatorial primary

Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), on Saturday in Akure, emerged as candidate of the  All Progressives Congress (APC)  for the Nov.26 governorship election in Ondo State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Akeredolu, who was APC Flag bearer in 2012 governorship election, won the party’s primary election with 669 votes, defeating his closest opponent, Chief Olusegun Abraham, who scored 635 votes.

Chief Olusola Oke scored 576 votes and Senator Ajayi Boroffice scored 471 votes to come third and fourth respectively.

Gov. Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa, who was the Electoral Committee Chairman for the primary, announced the result.

“Having scored the highest votes, I hereby declare Akeredolu Oluwarotimi as the winner and Ondo APC governorship candidate,” he said.

Abubakar noted that 24 aspirants earlier contested for the election while one Mr  Paul Akintelure officially withdrew his candidacy before the commencement of the election

Abubakar also congratulated other aspirants  for promptly conceding defeat, and urged them to team up with the winner and work together to enable the party to win the Nov.26 governorship election.

The governor commended the 2774 delegates that participated in the primary election in the state and party leaders for their conduct, which he said led to a free, fair and credible primary.

” 2774 delegates participated and 24 aspirants contested for the election while seven votes were invalid,” he said.

In his acceptance speech, Akeredolu appreciated the electoral committee and the delegates for the free, fair and credible primary election that saw his emergence as the party’s candidate for the Nov.26 governorship election.

Akeredolu also thanked all the aspirants for the wonderful campaign.

“Today our great party as produced candidate for governorship election in Ondo State.

“We are looking forward to all aspirants working together as a family to win the next election in Ondo State,” Akeredolu said.(NAN)

APC governorship primary election in Ondo State

The  primary election held amidst tight security and peaceful environment  commenced at 12:15 p.m after the accreditation, which started at 7:00 a.m ended.

Abubakar had at the commencement of the exercise, urged the delegates to be orderly and stressed the need to end the process on time and peacefully.

INEC officials and the party chieftains were all present at the primary election with security personnel provided by Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

There was however a mild security scare as a result of shoot-out  between some police men and personnel of the NSCDC  at the venue of the  primary election.

Trouble started when some policemen were said to have accused some NSCDC officers of not saluting a Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr Joshak Habila, who came to monitor the exercise.

Habila was said to have arrived the venue in company with the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 11, Mr Dan Bature.

It was  learnt that the policemen were said to have walked the NSDC officers out of the venue of the election.

A shootout was said to have occurred when attempts were made by the policemen to prevent the State Commandant of NSCDC, Mr Adeyinka Fasiu, from entering the venue.

The shootings led to panic at the venue of the primary election, with aspirants, delegates and journalists fleeing the scene.

It took the quick intervention of other security agents and senior police officers to restore normalcy at the venue of the primary election.

The police spokesman in the state, Mr Femi Joseph, confirmed the incident, saying it was the result of a minor disagreement between some junior officers in the two security agencies, adding that normalcy was promptly restored. (NAN)