An aspirant in the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary for Ekiti North Senatorial District, Oluwadare Owolabi, has called for the cancellation of the exercise, alleging widespread irregularities, intimidation and manipulation of results.
Addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, Owolabi described the primary as flawed and inconsistent with democratic standards, claiming that valid votes were cancelled while figures were allegedly written in places where elections did not hold.
The APC primary returning officer, Asipa Wasiu, had declared incumbent senator, Cyril Fasuyi, winner with 14,179 votes, while former senator Ayo Arise polled 4,868 votes.
Owolabi, however, insisted he scored 4,341 votes and not the 2,836 announced by the election committee.
According to him, supporters who openly queued to vote for him in several wards were allegedly intimidated and dispersed once it became obvious he had significant backing.
He cited Ward 3 in Ido/Osi Local Government, where he said voting was peaceful and transparent before the result was later cancelled.
Owolabi also alleged that many result sheets were not signed by agents because figures were recorded elsewhere without their knowledge.
He claimed some officials admitted acting under pressure and fear of losing their jobs if they refused to comply with directives.
The aspirant maintained that the primary failed to meet the standard of a credible democratic process and vowed to petition the APC National Chairman over the outcome.
He added that another aspirant, Senator Ayo Arise, had also raised concerns about the conduct of the election.
