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Keyamo, Ojougboh, others absent as Omo-Agege clinches Delta ticket

In Delta State, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege emerged winner.

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Omo-Agege, who polled 1,190 votes, was returned unopposed by the 1,235 accredited delegates.

But some of the aggrieved members including the Minister of State for Labor and Employment, Festus Keyamo; Dr Cairo Ojougboh; and a former Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Mr Victor Ochei, were absent from the primary.

Lagos gov aspirants protest exclusion from APC primary, threaten legal action

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In Lagos State, two aspirants, Abdul-Ahmed Mustapha and Wale Oluwo, protested their exclusion from the primary of the party held at Onikan.

The aspirants in separate interviews told The PUNCH that the party’s Lagos State Governorship Primary Election Committee and its screening committee prevented them from participating in the primary.

They threatened to seek legal action should the leadership of the party fail to address the issue.

Both Mustapha and Oluwo said the process that led to the announcement of Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the primary was not democratic.

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The chairman of the election committee and former deputy governor of Borno State, Shettima Yuguda, announced Sanwo-Olu as the winner and claimed that both Mustapha and Oluwo did not participate in the election because they were not cleared by the screening committee of the party.

He reiterated that Lagos APC had 1,225 delegates and 1,198 had been accredited.

Oluwo, in a statement he signed and sent to The PUNCH, said the elected delegated were those handpicked by just one of the APC factions in Lagos State, through “a sham delegates congress purportedly held in the 245 Wards of Lagos State on 18th and 19th of May 2022”.

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Oluwo said he would seek redress from the internal dispute resolution mechanisms of the party, “without foreclosing the enforcement of our rights to seek justice in the Court of Law.”

Also, Mustapha told The PUNCH that he was in Abuja two weeks ago for the screening though the result was not announced.

He said the Secretary of the primary election committee, Bashir Mohammed, turned him back on Thursday, saying that he was not cleared and as such cannot be given accreditation access to the venue.

Mustapha said, “We were told that we were not cleared by the leadership of the party, and as such, they only gave accreditation tags to those that were cleared.

“We went to Abuja for clearance two weeks ago. The results of the clearance were not communicated to us.

Continuing, Mustapha added, “I sent a lawyer to Abuja two days ago and we were informed that we were not cleared. One of the members of the screening committee told our lawyer that we were not cleared. I spoke to one of the members of the committee and he said only the people who were cleared will be accredited. I spoke with the chairman of the party in Lagos and he said he did not have control over the accreditation process but only the people from Abuja can clear me”.

Sanwo-Olu, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile, thanked the people of the state for the confidence reposed in him.

Parallel primaries in A’Ibom

Two factions conducted parallel primaries in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital on Thursday.

A faction loyal to former Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio held its primary at the party Secretariat at Okpo Obot while the one headed by a former National Secretary, John Akpanudoegehe, held its shadow election at Sheer Grace, also in Uyo

In Gombe State, Governor Muhammadu Yahaya, was declared the winner of the primary through a voice vote.

The Chairman of the Governing Council University of Nigeria Nsukka, Chief Ikechi Emenike, won the governorship primary of the party in Abia state.

But an aspirant, Chief Daniel Eke, in an interview with journalists, described the primary as unacceptable.

The incumbent Zamfara Governor, Matawalle, was declared the winner of the primary in the state.Matawalle who contested unopposed got 733 votes out of 735 votes cast.

Uche Geoffery Nnaji, a sole aspirant of the APC in Enugu State, emerged as the party’s flag-bearer. He pulled a total of 1070 votes to emerge the APC Candidate.

The Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Francis Nwifuru, emerged as winner in the state.

Nwifuru, who is supported by the state Governor, Dave Umahi, scored 743 votes to defeat four other aspirants.

But in an interview with The PUNCH, Iziriga Raymond, an agent of one of the aspirants, Julius Ali Ucha, rejected the result, describing it as a celebrated fraud.

In Osun State, an aspirant for Ilesa East State Constituency, Damilola Bodunde, said she had no other option than to boycott the exercise after she received strange calls, telling her not to show up at the venue of the primary.