newslifeonline

 

The APC primary elections in Ogun State have left people with mixed feelings, amid allegations of foul play in Abeokuta South Federal Constituency.

 

After  the fierce poll in  Abeokuta South primary, the party’s consensus candidate, Afolabi Afuape, secured victory after polling 2,633 votes to defeat fellow aspirant, Tolupe Philips, who polled 760 votes.

 

 

The outcome, however, sparked protests from Philips and his supporters, who rejected the result of the exercise, alleging irregularities and manipulation in favour of Afuape.

 

Philips, who spoke to newsmen shortly after casting his vote at ward 7 in Iaye, maintained that the process fell short of the standard of a free, fair and transparent election, accusing some party officials of compromising the exercise to favour Afuape.

 

Philipps said “The party officials that are supposed to come and count us or do the accreditation didn’t do any accreditation.

They counted us, and when they got to the end over there, they stopped. They said they were tired, that they couldn’t go all the way down. So they stopped counting us and went to my opponents’ line.

 

“ After counting like 10 people, those 10 people went to the back to go and queue again. Everybody started complaining: “What is going on?” It’s visible to the eyes that my own line is three times their line. Everybody has seen it.

“Count your own line.” But it’s a problem for them to count their own line. We don’t have any issues with that.

 

“The person they sent to come and count is a ward escort from ward 9 who always posts for my opponents. It’s a biased mind already. Count us! The media should be there, let them count. Nobody should move, we will win them hands down. But they are not counting. They’ve been putting us together behind that counter”, he added.

 

 

Reacting to the allegations, Afuape insisted that Philips’ claim was far from the truth, arguing that it is unrealistic to judge the outcome of the elections in wards with the situation in one ward.

 

But despite the controversy in Abeokuta South, the primary elections in other parts of Ogun Central Senatorial District were concluded with the emergence of other candidates.

 

In Abeokuta North Federal Constituency, Olumide Osooba emerged victorious in the party’s primary election, securing the APC ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.

 

Similarly, the Ogun State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hon. Motunrayo Adijat Adeleye, clinched victory in the Ifo/Ewekoro Federal Constituency primary to emerge as the party’s flag bearer.