Controversy has continued to trail the All Progressives Congress, APC, senatorial primary election in Ekiti North Senatorial District as former senator, Ayodele Arise; Dare Owolabi; and the incumbent lawmaker, Cyril Fasuyi, exchanged tirades over the outcome of the exercise.
While Senator Arise and Owolabi rejected the result announced by the APC Senatorial Primary Election Committee, alleging manipulation and falsification of figures, Senator Fasuyi dismissed the claims and urged the former lawmaker to accept the outcome in good faith.
The APC committee had declared Fasuyi winner of the primary with 14,179 votes, while Arise polled 4,868 votes. Other aspirants, Dipo Bamisaye and Dare Owolabi, secured 3,694 and 2,836 votes respectively.
Addressing journalists separately on Tuesday, Senator Arise and Owolabi insisted that they won the shadow poll based on results collated from 33 wards where the voting exercise was completed.
Senator Arise claimed that results from 33 wards showed that he scored 8,687 votes against Fasuyi’s 7,755 votes before the process was allegedly disrupted in several areas.
According to him, election officials abandoned the exercise in 12 wards when it became obvious he was leading, while officials failed to show up in 10 other wards across the district.
Arise further alleged that the total votes announced by the committee exceeded the registered membership of the APC in Ekiti North, insisting that the figures were mathematically impossible.
He also alleged that some ward results were altered to favour Senator Fasuyi, citing Iludun I Ward in Ilejemeje Local Government Area where he claimed votes recorded for him were reduced in the final declaration.
“I won the election and I have proof. I was rigged out by the system. The result does not represent the wish of the people. What happened yesterday was fraught with irregularities, fraud, violence and intimidation,” Senator Arise added.
Owolabi, who also rejected the results of the primary election, called for its outright cancellation, saying the shadow poll was fraught with flaws and irregularities.
“The election is not fair and there were a lot of irregularities across different local governments, wards and units. We know our people, we know what they did, we know how people voted for us, and we know our people were terrorized and chased out of the venues.”
He, however, urged his supporters to remain calm and peaceful, adding that the primary election had come and gone.
“We will fight the battle over the primary election soon, but I want attention to be focused on the governorship election coming up next month for all parties to join hands and bring back our governor,” he added.
Reacting to the allegations, Senator Fasuyi described the claims as baseless and urged Arise to accept the outcome of the election in the interest of the party.
He maintained that his victory reflected the support and acceptance he enjoys across the five local government areas in the senatorial district due to his performance in office.
“I want to appeal to a respected leader of our great party, Senator Arise, to accept the outcome of the primary election in good faith and join hands with us to move the party forward,” he said.
The senator, who is also the Director-General of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s re-election campaign, questioned why anyone would expect him to lose the primary election as the incumbent lawmaker.
“I’m the incumbent senator representing Ekiti North and also the Director-General of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s re-election campaign. I have remained actively connected to the grassroots and the people know the efforts we have made. So, why would anybody expect me to lose the primary?” he asked.
The lawmaker also dismissed allegations of intimidation and manipulation during the conduct of the primary, saying, “Party members came out freely to vote and the process was conducted in line with the APC guidelines.”
He urged all aggrieved aspirants and their supporters to unite and work for the progress of the APC ahead of the June 20 governorship poll and the 2027 general election.