An aspirant in the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, has asked a Federal High Court, Abuja, to nullify the April 20, primary election that produced incumbent the governor, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ibrahim hinged his request on the grounds that the primary election for the selection of the APC standard bearer was done with substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, as well as the APC constitution and guidelines for selecting candidates for elective positions.
In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/ CS/588/24 and filed by his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, the plaintiff, described the APC primary election that held on April 20, as a sham, adding that the primary was deliberate skewed to favour the incumbent governor.
The APC, Aiyedatiwa and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendant respectively, in the suit filed on May 3.
In an affidavit deposed to in support of the suit, Senator Ibrahim submitted, “That the results of the Governorship Primary Election Committee used in declaring the winner were not product of collation of results by the Local Government Electoral Committee at the designated Collation centres.
“That being in a hurry to generate and allocate scores to aspirants according to their preference, 1st Defendant’s agents allocated total number of votes higher than total number of accredited members in a number of Ward, which incident of over-voting spreads across the 18 Local Governments and occurred in more than 100 wards which include but not limited to Wards 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 of Akure South; Wards 3, S, 7, 8, 10 of Owo Local Government; Wards 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10 Ose Local Government; Wards 1,2,5,7, 11, 14, 15 Akoko South West; Wards 3,4,5,6,8,10 Ondo West, Wards 1 -10 Akoko North West.
“That by the Guidelines, these incidents of over voting in the above wards vitiate the results generated and declared in those wards by the 1st Defendant.”
Alex Enumah
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