…to set up Foundation for Political Orientation
An All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial aspirant in Ekiti North Senatorial District at the just concluded Senatorial Primaries in Ekiti state, Oluwadare Owolabi, has called for the cancellation of the primary election over what he described as irregularities and lack of proper electoral conduct.
Owolabi seeks a fresh election in the interest of democracy. He regretted the conduct of some stakeholders, said to be in contrast to fairness and transparency.
The APC National Assembly Senatorial Primaries Committee had on Monday evening announced the incumbent, Cyril Fasuyi, as the winner of the election.
Owolabi reacted in Ado-Ekiti while addressing journalists about the outcome of the APC Primaries.
He expressed determination to set up a Foundation that would widen the horizon and outlook of the people for the sake of Political development.
He said: “There are a lot of irregularities across the district from Ikole to Oye to Moba. A lot of irregularities. Votes were not counted. Accreditations were not done.
“Employees who are brought to do those things were government employees. When votes were displayed, and they found out it was more than their principal, they tend to disorganise the venue, and people run for their lives.
“And after those people are no more, they go to their different locations to write results that are not known to participants, that are not known to agents, that are not known to the contestants.
“So at the end of the day, most of the results we tend to hear from the radio yesterday or from the TV yesterday and online were not correct. For example, I was attributed to have 2,800 plus votes.
“But actually, the votes based on the people allowed to vote for me were about 4,341, which I can put together from my side.
“These are areas where they actually voted, not areas where problems were, and they had to chase people out and terrorise people from actually counting or voting.
“So that to me is disturbing because this is my first time coming out to run for election. I’m a technocrat, and all I want to do is to add value to my senatorial district and my state.
“But what I’ve seen so far is an act of terrorism, looking for a way to actually not allow people like us or people that are coming on board or people that want to add value to their state or to their local government or their district to have that opportunity.
” If you don’t do that, and based on what people are seeing today, you will see a limited number of people coming to politics because this is not actually democracy. This is an act of terrorism.
“And at the end of the day, it’s not going to work for the state. It’s not going to work for youths. It’s not going to work for people like me.
“Neither will it work for the communities. Because what has happened is that what people want has not been accepted. It’s like what we saw yesterday is that they are actually imposing a candidate on the people.
“They are not allowing people to choose the candidate they actually want. That’s why they were not allowed to vote in a lot of areas and across all five local governments. In some places, there were fights, like Ifaki.
“The ex-governor actually sat for a long time, and nothing happened, and votes were counted. Where were those votes counted? Who are those people who actually voted? Where did they actually put those numbers on the paper without people signing? So my request is for the election held yesterday to be cancelled and done properly.
“Yesterday was not an election. It was not a primary. It was an imposition. And that is not what we thought we should have in Ekiti North or in Ekiti State”.
On his next move, Owolabi stated, “My plan is to go around and visit my people and thank them for the job well done. For coming out to support me, Oluwadare Owolabi, despite the fact that this is the first time I’m coming out to run for an election.
“I’m going out from ward to ward and local government to thank them for the job well done.
“I’m also planning to set up a foundation that will help people who are coming on board for social reasons and for political reasons to know what they need to do as it pertains to politics, to know their roles as it pertains to politics, to know the roles of the government as it pertains to politics, and to know the roles of people in politics.
“That’s what I found out we don’t have today. That is why, at times, we have an election where people are not accredited yet, and people are not even checked to see whether they can vote. So that foundation will take care of that going forward.
“So people will come to bear, people will come to the table, knowing fully well their responsibilities.
“That is going to be quick, and that is going to be done. But at the same time, I’m going to go around tomorrow, because we’ve passed this juncture, although we will deal with it in time, we’ll deal with it, and we’ll fix this.
“But now, it’s for me to talk to people, to come together and address the 20th June election of the governor, and make sure that we are all set to bring Governor Abiodun Oyebanji back to the government seat, and get people ready for that.
“While we are doing that, we’ll also be fixing the problems that we have encountered in the last one-week”, Owolabi said.
