Aggrieved All Progressives Congress, APC, aspirants who battled for the partys ticket to contest in the upcoming Ondo State gubernatorial election have resolved to seek redress in court.
The aspirants are considering legal actions against the Governor Usman Ododo-led committee which conducted the last primary election.
They are alleging that the entire exercise was a sham.
DAILY POST recalls that the ruling APC on April 20, conducted its primary election ahead of the November 16, 2024, governorship election in Ondo state.
The exercise, which had the incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa as winner, was, however, shrouded with controversies as most aspirants alleged irregularities in the poll.
While some of the aspirants alleged that the APC primary election did not follow the partys procedure, others outrightly said there was no election.
Recall that one of the aspirants, Mr Gbenga Edema, who addressed newsmen while the election was ongoing, had alleged that the Kogi State governor, Ododo did not follow the due process laid down by the national leadership of the party.
Mr Gbenga frowned at the delay in the release of electoral materials meant for the primary.
According to Edema, as at 10:00 a.m., electoral materials had not been released contrary to the resolution made during a stakeholders' meeting prior to the election.
He said, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, told us during the stakeholders' meeting that the materials would be distributed to the electoral officers at the BON Hotel, Akure.
"He told us that the accreditation would start between 10:00:am and 1:00 pm and that voting would commence by 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm.
"But what we are hearing now is that the election has been concluded and the result announced.
"We asked the chairman, but he had no answer to our questions. We are not people that could be manipulated by god fathers. So, we are asking our national leadership that if they are not ready, they should postpone it until the right thing is done.
DAILY POST reports that about six aspirants, including the senator representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim, Olusola Oke, Folakemi Omogoroye, Olugbenga Edema, Jimi Odimayo, and Wale Akinterinwa, subsequently filed petitions challenging Aiyedatiwa's victory.
The aspirants insisted that the election must be cancelled, noting that Ododo was not fit to chair the committee.
Meeting with Ganduje
The national chairman of APC, Abdullahi Ganduje and the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party held a closed-door peace meeting with Governor Ayiedatiwa and the aggrieved aspirants on Thursday last week.
However, efforts by Ganduje and the NWC to broker peace between the governor and the aspirants failed as the meeting ended in a deadlock.
During the meeting, Ganduje appealed to the aggrieved aspirants to sheathe their swords in the interest of the party.
"It is already a ruling party; our prayer is that it should continue to be a ruling party in Ondo State.
"So, you see, we are here to appeal to you so that we can succeed in maintaining this state as an APC state. I appeal to you; we are all practitioners in this game, in this politics, in this agenda, he said.
However, DAILY POST gathered that the aspirants refused to withdraw their petitions, insisting that there was no primary election conducted in the state on April 20.
A source, who is familiar with the developments, told DAILY POST that at least three of the aspirants have resolved to end the matter in court.
He alleged that the Ododo-led committee conducted the primary election in a hotel, stressing that the winner was known even before the election kick-started.
If our party continues in this way, we should forget Ondo State. The fact is that Aiyedatiwa already has a big case that even if he wins, the court will upturn his victory.
This is someone who the people of Ondo State never wanted even right from when the former governor was sick, he fell out with many party members and the great people of Ondo State. I wonder how he is going to win this election," he claimed.
He revealed that the aggrieved aspirants have vowed to mobilise and work against the governor during the November 16 election if the party fails to give proper attention to the petition.
Speaking with DAILY POST, one of the aggrieved aspirants, Hon Olugbenga Edema insisted that Aiyedatiwa was illegally declared winner of the election.
He said, We complained to the national chairman and the National Working Committee of the party that the so-called election held on the 20th of April was a fraud.
You can also agree with me that there was no election that day. But the chairman and the NWC told us that we should forget it and move forward.
However, we told him that there was no way we would just forget about it.
"Normally, when a thing like t
