Guber Primary Poll: Ondo South rejects Membership Revalidation Register, Petitions Ganduje

DAMISI OJO,Akure

There is confusion ahead of Saturday governorship primarirs in Ondo State for the emergence of the gubernatorial candidate for November 2024 election, as seven aspirants from Southern Senatorial District of Ondo state have rejected the recent revalidation of membership  exercise carried out by National body of the All Progressives Congress APC in Ondo State.

Already, they had jointly petitioned the National Chairman of the party,  Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, expressing doubt over the credibility of the forthcoming primaries of the ruling APC, if something is not done urgently about the membership register by National leadership of the party.

According to the letter ,”We have noticed some issues of concern in respect of the said primary election which if not resolved quickly, may hinder the smooth running of the primary and may be detrimental to a free, fair, credible and acceptable election.

The governorship aspirants from Ondo South said one of the issues is on the revalidation of the membership register to be used for the primary election.

They said” While we commend the position of the party to revalidate the existing membership register which is the certified true copies, as certified by INEC, and based on this directive of the party, as aspirants, we have paid over N300m to the coffers of the party to cover the annual dues of all party members whose names appear on the register.

“Unfortunately, the exercise was shrouded in so much of secrecy that a lot of our party members especially our numerous supporters could not have their membership cards revalidated before the committee that came from the Headquarters left Ondo State for Abuja.

“We have been inundated by reports that a particular aspirant has gone ahead with massive printing of fake party slips, which he has distributed to a lot of persons who are not even our party members.

“The intention of this aspirant is to corrupt the integrity of the membership register on the day of the primary by making accreditation of party members impossible as non-party members have already been recruited to flood the venues of the primary election that day.

“This massive and pervasive production of the membership cards will certainly precipitate a situation where everyone holding membership cards, notwithstanding that their names are not on the register, will be allowed to vote without accreditation. Voting without accreditation remains illegal and unacceptable”.

The aggrieved contestants reminded the party Chairman of  Section 77(2) (3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, that makes it mandatory for all political parties to have a credible membership register which must be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and certified by it, not later than 30 days before the Congress.

They said to avoid any Legal or Constitutional conundrum, the party should make accreditation of party members mandatory at the election venue, and that every member of the party whose name appears on the membership register already certified by INEC should be allowed to vote once he/she is able to present his/her membership slip for accreditation.

The concerned APC governorship aspirants  urged the leadership of the party to make available to them the membership register already validly certified by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as the only lawful register to be used by the party for the conduct of the primary election slated for 20/04/2024.

They emphasized that no other register can lawfully be used for the said primary election.

The concerned  governorshp Aspirants from the Southern District include Senator Jimoh Ibrahim,Chief Olusola Oke(SAN) Wale Akinterinwa ,Prince Diran Iyantan ,Prof Dayo Faduyile OON,Hon Gbenga Edema and Hon. Jimi Odimayo.

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