Protests and agitation within the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) Party in Edo State as the incumbent Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been declared the winner of the APC wards primary and the candidate of the party in the scheduled governorship election in the state. Report indicates that Aiyedatiwa scored a total of 48,569 votes in the primaries while fellow contender, Mayowa Akinfolarin, polled 15,343 votes, with Olusola Oke coming in third position with 14,865 votes.

He was declared the winner by the Chairman of the Governorship Primary Election Committee and Governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Ododo, in the early hours of today, who also noted that the electoral process went ”smoothly” with little skirmishes recorded.

 ”I can confirm that the direct mode of primary election adopted in the 2024 Ondo State governorship primary elections held in all 203 electoral wards in all the 18 LGAs in Ondo state,” Ododo said while announcing the winner.

 The Ondo State governor coasted to victory in 16 of the 18 LGAs losing out on Ilaje LGA to third-placed Oke. Incidents of violence marred the election in Ifedore leading to cancellation of results.

The primary which was held on Saturday saw several of the contestants alleging the elections didn’t take place anywhere. One such Folakemi Omogoroye, a female aspirant described the process as a “complete rape on democracy.” calling for the cancellation

 Omogoroye also lamented the absence of election officials and voting materials at voting centres, saying her supporters could not exercise their right to vote.

 “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,” she said while threatening legal action if her demand for a fresh and transparent election were not met.

 Equally, disgruntled party faithful took to the streets of Akure to demand the annulment of the exercise and the removal of Ododo as the committee’s chair. The protesters took their dissatisfaction to the APC state secretariat in Akure alleging irregularities in the conduct of the ward primaries across the 203 wards of the state.

 They described the process as a daylight robbery and urged the national secretariat of the APC not to allow the state to be embroiled in crisis.

 One of the protesters claimed no ward primaries were held, insisting that the guidelines given by the national secretariat of the party were not followed as the committee did not distribute materials to any wards. The party members warned of likely consequences if an unpopular candidate is imposed on them as it could affect the chances of the party in the governorship election.