Aspirants in the just concluded All Progressive Congress (APC) primary election for House of Representatives in Ankpa/Olamaboro/Omala Federal constituency have called upon the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party led by Adams Oshiomhole to cancel Thursday party primary election because it was conducted out of the context of the party guidelines and by non-accredited members.
In a press conference in Lokoja on Friday, two aspirants, Hon. Abdulkareem Momoh Yahaya and Ben Adaji alleged that the said party primary was hijacked by one Chief Edward Onoja, the chief of staff to Governor Yahaya Bello, and his brother, Joshua Onoja, who were not accredited members of state APC primary election committee headed by Francis Inegbineki.
They alleged that Chief Onoja brought in a member of an ad-hoc staff of the APC panel to conduct the election, shifted the venue from township stadium to governor’s lodge, drove aspirants and their agents away through his security details and thugs, conducted the election himself and declared the winner whom he had been campaigning for for months.
Against this backdrop, the aspirants therefore implored Oshiomhole to as a matter of urgency set aside the said party primary election and conduct a fresh one within the ambit of the party guidelines, not a “charade” by chief of staff led group to avoid misfortune of the party in the forthcoming general election.
“Materials, including sensitive documents meant for Ankpa/Olamaboro/Omalla federal constituency for APC primary election was delivered by an ad-hoc staff, because Francis Inegbineki who supposed to supervise the election said the committee is short of manpower.
“We raised the issue with him, he assured us that he will come and conduct the election for us. When we learnt that people are gathering at the government’s lodge for the election, we called to inform him. He said there is no way the election will be conducted in the government lodge.
“The governor’s lodge has a history of being a base of the military. The stock their weapons, arms in the place and as such it’s not conducive for such an exercise. Upon my alarm, he(Francis) took up the matter with Ankpa local government administrator who lied to him that PDP is conducting its party primary election in the Township stadium,” Yahaya expressed.
Explaining further, Yahaya stated that to their surprise, around 9pm on Thursday, “chief of staff drove in ad-hoc staff in his vehicle, with all the sensitive materials to governor’s lodge; no cover at all, except the security details of Chief Onoja. Shortly after, they set the table and said they are set for the primary election. They mentioned Abdullai Ali, Ben Adaji and Blessing Ekele; my name was not even called.”
He said thereafter, “we raised objection to the venue on the fact that it is against the party guidelines for such election. But the ad-hoc staff said he has documents backing his action, but he declined to give to us when we demanded to see the documents backing his action.
“As this argument was going on, the chief of staff came down, ordered the police escort to start shooting, and his thugs followed, beating and chasing every one that is not supporting the candidate he has been supporting for months. We all ran away, including our supporters. And later, they came up with the election result, purported to have been conducted by the committee.”
Credit: Nigerian Pilot
