Aiyedatiwa Declared Winner Of Ondo APC Governorship Primary

The voting procedure for the Ondo All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries concluded on Saturday with Lucky Aiyedatiwa becoming victorious.

Early on Monday morning, he was proclaimed the victor of the exercise by Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo and Chairman of the Election Committee.

Ododo declared the governor the winner of the 2024 Ondo state governorship primary elections, saying, "I can confirm that the direct mode of primary election adopted in all 203 electoral wards in all the 18 LGAs in Ondo state."

The governor of Ondo State easily won 16 out of the 18 local government districts.

With 48,569 votes cast in the primary, Aiyedatiwa defeated Mayowa Akinfolarin, his nearest opponent, who received 15,343 votes overall. Olusola Oke came in third place with 14,865 votes. Third-place Oke defeated the governor in Ilaje LGA.

Nothing To "Hold Grudges" About
During his acceptance speech, an ecstatic Aiyedatiwa expressed gratitude to party members for electing him to be the APC flagbearer.

As the party's nominee, he declared, "To all of our party members, I hereby accept, wholeheartedly, the responsibility conferred upon me by the votes of our members who turned out in large numbers on April 20, 2024."

Sometimes, following a contest like this, democracy comes with dissonant tunes. But in order for our great party to succeed and maintain its grasp on power, now is not the time to harbour grudges against anyone, the governor stated. Instead, we should all band together.

Protests and Controversy

The Ifedore election was plagued by violent incidents, which caused the results to be cancelled.
During the Saturday primary, a number of candidates claimed that the elections had never happened.
One such candidate, Folakemi Omogoroye, a woman, called for the annulment of the process, describing it as a "complete rape on democracy."

Omogoroye also bemoaned the lack of election authorities and voting supplies at polling places, claiming that her followers were unable to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
She threatened legal action if her demand for a new and transparent election were not satisfied, saying, "I am not going to accept it, and now, I am calling for cancellation and if this is not done, maybe we'll meet in the court."

Disgruntled party members also staged protests in Akure's streets, calling for Ododo to be removed as the committee's chair and the exercise to be cancelled.

The demonstrators brought their grievances to the APC state secretariat in Akure, where they claimed that there had been anomalies in the way the 203 state ward primaries had been conducted.

They called the procedure a "daylight robbery" and pleaded with the APC national leadership to prevent the state from becoming entangled in a conflict.

One of the demonstrators insisted that there were no ward primaries and that the party's national secretariat's guidelines had not been fulfilled because the committee had not distributed materials to any wards.

Party members issued a warning, stating that their chances of winning the governorship could be impacted if they are forced to support an unpopular candidate.

Now that the primary is over, Aiyedatiwa's focus is on the November general election.
His triumph occurred around three months after he was sworn in as the governor of the South-West state, succeeding his late chief Rotimi Akeredolu, who passed away from prostate cancer after a protracted battle.