As political thugs disrupt party’s governorship primary in Ekiti State
The crises in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) reached a crescendo yesterday as death, violence and many acts of illegalities characterised its ward congresses held nationwide yesterday.
In Delta, one of the party’s ward chairmanship aspirants, Mr. Jeremiah Oghoveta, in Ward 10, Otu-Jeremi, Ughelli South Local Government Area, was stabbed to death during the violence that trailed the congress.
One person was also reported killed in Rivers State while a local government secretariat was torched in Bauchi State during the exercise.
In Akwa Ibom, no fewer than 10 persons, including the Etim Ekpo Local Government Chairman of the APC, Mr. Iniobong Akan, were beaten up by aggrieved youths.
The youths allegedly blocked the gates of the state secretariat, along Atiku Abubakar Avenue, where the exercise held and prevented party members from entering the premises.
However, the congress was said to have proceeded after the senior special adviser to the president on senate matters Senator Ita Enang, met with the aggrieved members.
In Oyo State, the deputy speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly Abdulwasi Musah, two members of a committee set up by the national secretariat of the APC and others were injured when a bloody clash erupted at the party’s state secretariat at Oke Ado, Ibadan.
In Ondo State, the congress was marred by violence and other irregularities as many members of the party were allegedly prevented from participating in the exercise.
In Cross River State, APC stakeholders rejected the ward congress committee which it accused of hijacking the materials. Stakeholders who rejected the committee included Senator John Owan Enoh representing southern senatorial district, special assistant to president on prosecution, Bar Obono Obla, south-south vice chairman, Mr. Hillard Etta, deputy chairman, John Ochalla, vice chairman, central, Hon Cletus Obun, secretary of the party, Victor Ebong, and other party officials.
In Rivers State, the party’s secretariat was invaded on the eve of the exercise, a development that resulted in bitter exchanges between the minister of transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and the senator representing Rivers Southeast, Mr. Magnus Abe who is the only APC member in the state showing interest in the governorship contest.
The exercise was inconclusive as; Abe’s supporters who protested on major streets of Port Harcourt, alleged that they were sidelined from the ward congresses in the state.
Abe, who is the only APC member who has declared his intention to contest the governorship poll, said in a statement that no ward congresses were in the 344 wards of the 23 local government areas in Rivers State.
He said there was no stakeholders’ meeting before the scheduled congress as promised by the leadership of the APC in the state.
In Imo State, parallel congresses were held in various wards of the 27 local council areas of Imo State while in Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his supporters, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje held parallel ward congresses across the state.
In Kaduna State, the age-long rivalry between Governor Nasir El-Rufai on the one hand and senators Shehu Sani and Othman Hunkuyi on the other was at work.
There was the absence of party officials, but non-party officials conducted the exercise, anyway.
Supporters of the two senators alleged that party officials were quarantined in government house to do the bidding of government officials.
In Edo State, the congress was held across the 192 wards but the party’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, did not take part in the exercise at his ward 2 in the Oredo Local Government Area where he registered.
Spokesman for the party in the state, Mr. Chris Azebamwan defended Oyegun’s absence saying: “Chief Odigie-Oyegun has more pressing issues begging his attention than the ward congress.
“That he was not physically present does not mean that he was not part of the process. He was not a candidate at the ward level, so he did not need to be physically present.”
In Bauchi State, loyalists to the Speaker House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, alleged that the governor, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, had perfected a plan to deny candidates not loyal to him from participating in the exercise.
They alleged that the paid about N13 million to buy the nomination form but they did not get it.
“Everybody prepared for the elections. We were fully ready. We paid about N13m to purchase the forms but to our greatest surprise we haven’t got the forms.
“It is also surprising that (members of) the committee charged with the responsibilities of conducting the election were nowhere to be found,” said the senator representing Bauchi North, Nazif Gamawa.
In other states like Enugu, and Ebonyi, party officials alleged rigging and manipulation of the process.
“The processes were totally flawed,” said the minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama.
However, the exercise was peaceful in Bayelsa and Taraba states; Katsina State where the president, Muhammadu Buhari voted, Lagos State where the national leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and the vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo voted and in Ogun State where loyalists of the governor, Mr. Ibikunle Amosun who were elected in 2014, were unanimously returned unopposed as elected chairmen in the 236 wards of the state.
Despite the crises in many of the states, the APC said in a statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, that the exercise was “generally peaceful.”
He admitted there were challenges in some states and called on members to be law abiding and seek redress through the appeal committees set up in their respective states where there are issues.
“The APC wishes to congratulate all its members for the generally peaceful conduct of the Party’s ward congresses which took place across the country over the weekend.
“We however acknowledge there are some issues arising from the conduct of the elections in some states.
“With this in view, the party had set up various appeal committees which will begin sitting from Monday, May 7, 2018.
“We therefore call on all Party members to remain law abiding and where there are issues, they should seek redress through the appeal committees in their respective states,” he said.
Governorship primary ends is fiasco
Meanwhile, the 33 governorship aspirants of the APC in Ekiti State have another date to decide who flies the party’s flag in the July election.
This follows the disruption of yesterday’s primary by suspected thugs.
The Nation reports that voting was already in progress when the hoodlums, who had apparently massed outside the venue of the exercise, Oluyemi Kayode Stadium, Ado Ekiti, forced their way in.
They overturned the tables on which the ballot boxes were placed before the full glare of security men, delegates and other observers.
They proceeded to smash the boxes.
Crisis erupted when agents of other aspirants complained that illiterate delegates were going to the agent of the minister of mines and steel development Mr. Kayode Fayemi, Mr. Samuel Abejide, to guide them to vote.
They alleged that Abejide was also writing the serial numbers of their ballot papers to authenticate who they actually voted for.
Fayemi’s agent said it was a gang-up against the Minister that led to the spurious allegation, accusing those peddling rumour as enemies of APC.
Abejide said: “It was a proviso that if you are a delegate who can’t read and write, you can call any of the agents. When they saw that I was the one being called, they started feeling the heat and they were determined to disrupt it”.
The aggrieved agents claimed that the process had been heavily compromised in favour of Fayemi. They also accused security agents of collaborating with Fayemi’s agent to manipulate the process.
The agents’ protest had attracted their principals and other interested parties, who joined the fray and made spirited efforts to grab the ballot boxes to stall the entire process.
The thugs were not happy at the trend of voting.
They surged forward and attempted to stop delegates from further casting their ballots.
Armed policemen fired gunshots and several canisters of teargas to disperse them but to no avail.
Delegates from four out of sixteen local governments had voted before the process was halted by the protesters.
One of the suspected thugs was arrested and whisked away by the police.
The suspected thug was arrested when he was trying to grab one of the ballot boxes and he was stripped naked.
The protesters chanted anti-Fayemi songs and called the minister unprintable names.
Security men deployed to the venue formed a ring around the voting centre and the state box where the aspirants sat.
The Electoral Panel led by Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, immediately met with the 33 aspirants and decided to suspend the exercise indefinitely over the violence.
