Irepodun/Ekiti/Oke-Ero/Isin Reps Primary: Ekiti APC Elders Allege Electoral Fraud, Demand Fresh Primary…Ask Nentawe, Gov Abdulrazaq To Take ‘Corrective Measures’

APC elders and stakeholders in Ekiti axis of Kwara State have rejected the outcome of Saturday’s reps primary election in Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero/Ekiti federal constituency while describing what took place there as ‘injustice and a gross violation of the constitutional and democratic rights of members of the party’.

The party elders, who said this during the press conference held in Ilorin on Monday which was presided over by Chairman of the Elders’ Caucus, Ekiti APC, Hon Olaiya Bello demanded the cancellation of the Saturday’s primary election while submitting that the outcome of the primary lacks ‘democratic legitimacy’.

The press conference was attended by journalists including Team@orientactualmags.com .

Recall that a member of the state House of Assembly, Hon Gabriel Ganiyu Abolarin was declared winner of the primary election in question on Saturday.

The APC elders and stakeholders have however demanded the cancellation of the election results and the conduct of a fresh, transparent and credible primary election in compliance with the Electoral Act and party guidelines.

 The leaders of the party at the state and national levels, as well as the state governor, who is the leader of the party in the state, should according to them immediately investigate the irregularities surrounding the exercise.

The press conference was attended by Ekiti and Oke-Ero local governments APC bigwigs including Chief J.B Ayeni, Alhaja Yusuf Aminah, Chief Ezekeil Ige, Chief Benjamin Oyeyemi, Mrs Jimoh Oluwatoyin, Chief Adeyemi Gbenele, and Chief Yinka Dallas.

They listed their demands to include ‘cancellation of the purported primary election results arising from the flawed process’ and ‘the conduct of a fresh, transparent and credible primary election in compliance with the Electoral Act and Party guidelines’ while also asking the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), ‘to thoroughly review the circumstances surrounding the exercise and ensure that due process is strictly followed’.

The APC elders also noted that this is not the first time they will be made to face such an embarassing situation.

‘You will recall that on 25th of March, 2026, we issued a press statement to condemn in strong terms, the irregularities and manipulation that trailed the last Local Government Congress of our party. The irregularities of that time looked like a Child’s play compared to what happened yesterday during the primary to select our representative in the House of Representatives. We have invited you here again today to draw the attention of the general public, the leadership of our great party, relevant electoral authorities and all lovers of democracy to the unfortunate irregularities, manipulation and outright violation of democratic principles that characterized the recent primary election held to choose the party’s candidate for the Ekiti/Oke- Ero /Isin /Irepodun House of Representatives seat.

What was expected to be a transparent, credible and democratic process turned out to be a complete mockery of internal democracy and a deliberate attempt to impose a preferred candidate on the people’ Hon Olaiya Bello submitted.

They also alleged that voting did not take place anywhere in Ekiti local government while adding that they were shocked to know that election results were declared by the committee.

‘Our greatest concern is the shocking situation in Ekiti Local Government, where no voting took place at all. Party members who had assembled in anticipation of participating in the exercise were left stranded as electoral officials failed to show up to conduct the primary in the Local Government’ he submitted while stating unequivocally that ‘any result purportedly arising from such a flawed, incomplete and irregular exercise cannot represent the genuine will of party members and stakeholders across the federal constituency’.

Former Permanent Secretary, Kwara State Ministry of Works and Transport, Elder Ayobola Samuel also picked holes in the decision taken by some party bigwigs to declare Hon Gabriel Abolarin winner of the primary election saying electoral due process was not followed.  

‘Let me be loud and clear on this, the party has already issued guidelines in respect of the process and procedures to follow in the conduct of primaries. For instance, one of the guidelines on the conduct of primary elections is that the committee that will oversee it will come from the national secretariat in Abuja, and they came. And also, it is the party that will announce the outcome of the primary based on reports from the people sent to oversee it.

So, until the committee that has been sent from Abuja returns there and reports what happened and announce appropriate results, we’re not in position to say that the party has erred because as far as we are concerned, the party has not done anything on the issue.

Although we’re aware that one of the aspirants through his agent in Irepodun local government has announced himself as the winner, but we’re not bothered about that. We just want the whole world to know that we’re in a civilized society, we’re no longer in the animal kingdom and we should do things right.

. For instance, one of the political philosophers, said ‘we’re no longer in the state of nature where everything goes’, things have changed, so, we’re in an environment where we should do things right and to that extent we want to believe that as far as we’re concerned, no valid primary has been held in our federal constituency and that is why we’re drawing the attention of the powers that be at the party level, at the government level and society at large to what happened’ he said.

Elder Ayobola Samuel also noted that APC leaders and stakeholders in the federal constituency are expecting the party to do the right thing in respect of  the primary because  ‘as far as we’re concerned there’s no valid primary held yet in our federal constituency and they should come and do the needful and give us a result that reflects the wish and will of the people’-Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08035023079,  08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you