On Wednesday, police in Ondo State said two suspects had been arrested for allegedly engaging in illegal registration of members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Funmi Odunlami, who disclosed this, said the arrested suspects, identified as Ariyo Ajiroba and one other, were arrested after the command received an intelligence report from a member of the public.
According to Odunlami, the suspects were arrested in Ondo town, the headquarters of the Ondo West local government area of the state, while registering the members.
She said Ajiroba, a transporter in Ondo town, was said to have about 53 passport photographs, APC registration booklets, two slips of registered forms, and a book containing a list of members of the party in the ward.
Odunlami stated in a statement signed by her that: “On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, the Police received an intel that one Mr Ariyo, a transporter in Ondo town, was registering APC Party members at his residence ahead of the party primaries slated for April 20, 2024
“Police personnel from Yaba Divisional Headquarters, led by an Assistant Superintendent of Police, visited the house and recovered the following items from the scene.”
He listed the items recovered from the scene of the incident including “APC party’s registration Booklets, List of names of purported party members of ward 7 Ondo, 53 passport photographs of different individuals, and a jotter containing names.
“Others include exercise books with names and phone numbers of people and two slips of a registered form.
“The two suspects have been arrested and are assisting the Police with necessary information to apprehend others involved in this cynicism.
“The Commissioner of Police, CP Abayomi P. Oladipo, admonishes all political aspirants to caution their supporters whose acts can stir the hornet’s nest in the state.
“The CP also ordered a total clampdown on incendiaries no matter whose ox is gored, as the Command has spread its tentacles to all nooks and crannies of the state to ensure the safety of lives and property and peaceful conduct of the party primaries in the state.”
It will be recalled that some seven governorship aspirants of the ruling APC earlier today raised the alarm over fake membership cards of the party being printed by one of the aspirants jostling for the party ticket.
The aspirants alleged that the unnamed aspirant planned to distribute the fake membership cards to non-members of the party in a desperate move to win the Saturday primary of the party.
The seven aspirants, who include Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, Chief Olusola Oke, Wale Akinterinwa, Prince Diran Iyantan, Prof. Dayo Faduyile, Hon. Gbenga Oedema, and Hon. Jimi Odimayo, maintained that several fake membership cards of the party had been secretly printed and distributed to people who are not members of the party.
According to them, the exercise was faulty, saying that the steps taken by the aspirant were designed to favour the aspirant to win the party’s primary at all costs and that the development could mar or discredit the exercise if the national party leadership of the party failed to take steps.
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