Michael Olusegun Abraham, an aspirant for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo State, has again expressed opposition to the emergence of a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, as candidate.
Abraham, alongside two other aggrieved APC governorship aspirants, last Friday rejected the decision of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, to make a U-turn by upholding Akeredolu’s candidature.
In a letter he wrote to the party, Abraham, who is believed to have the backing of APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, noted that he was disappointed at Oyegun for allegedly overruling the initial decision of the NWC which ordered the conduct of a fresh primary.
The letter reads: “Dear members, delegates, leaders of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the members of the public in Ondo State, I greet you all.
“The past few days have been quite eventful in the annals of our party in Ondo State, the eyes of the entire nation was on us, waiting to see how we were going to emerge from the unfortunate irregularities that befell the September 3rd gubernatorial primary election of our party.
“After painstaking deliberation and consideration of evidence-backed petitions by our party’s Electoral Appeal Committee and the National Working Committee (NWC), it was recommended that the September 3rd Primary election be annulled, and thankfully, this recommendation was ratified and upheld by a majority of our NWC, yesterday.
“And just like most of you, I was disappointed at the inexplicably unexpected and unjustifiable move by our party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to have disregarded this informed stance of the NWC that favoured annulment of that fraud-ridden primary, moving ahead to submit a name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“It is a move that is akin to injustice, and we know it won’t stand. I condemn it in strong terms, and I’m sure a lot of us do.
“We can’t win the general election by subverting the truth, especially not among the kind of Ondo people who relentlessly dislike injustice, we must not play into the hand of the opposition, who have been seemingly empowered in the little time our primary election has remained inconclusive.
“This is why this latest inexplicable unilateral move by Chief Oyegun against the wish of the people, the eligible delegates and the leaders of the party in the vested powers of the NWC, is unacceptable and cannot stand.
“I am very happy to assure you that by carefully weighed constitutional means, this my mandate of practical governance and blessings for the great people of Ondo State will be reclaimed.
“Our petition noted that 157 fake delegates were injected into the delegates’ list in 12 out of the 18 local governments areas (LGAs). This includes 54 delegates loyal to our mandate in, at least, three LGAs of Akoko North West (13), Akoko North East (26) and Idanre (15), who were disenfranchised and substituted with fake delegates.
“We have sought that these disenfranchised votes should be added to my poll (635), after the fake and substituted ones have been removed from votes polled by the acclaimed beneficiary. Details on these will be made public in earnest.
“It is on these two tenable fronts, that is, the NWC’s verdict of an annulment and rerun, but, more importantly, the reconsideration, re-enfranchising, recount and rightful allotting of the amount of eligible delegates’ votes, that I seek a reclamation of my mandate to be declared as the flag bearer of our party in the forthcoming general election in Ondo state.
“My consultations are ongoing, and I will give an official and more detailed address very soon.
It’s time to seek redress and RECLAIM OUR MANDATE!
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