Amidst protests and formal petitions against the outcome of the All Progressives Congress primary which produced incumbent Ondo Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa as the party candidate for November 16 governorship elections, National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has said the APC National Working Committee would ratify the result of the election and subsequently issued Aiyedatiwa Certificate of Return.
Ganduje made the declaration on Tuesday while receiving the report of the primary from the Ondo State Governor and leader of the Primary Committee, Usman Ododo.
Nigerian Tribune checks revealed that three of the aggrieved aspirants have submitted formal petitions to the Appeal Panel led by former Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar.
The petitioners included, Olugbenga Edema, Omoba Jimmy Odimayo, and the Adewale Akinterinwa.
The APC NWC will meet tomorrow ( Wednesday)
Ganduje who commended Governor Ododo for conducting a transparent exercise maintained that his leadership made adequate preparations for the primary.
He said:” The Executive Giv of Kogi state, we have to thank. This is your first official, political assignment outside Kogi. You have made history and people are surprised. You have shown political dexterity in handling this primary. We are proud of you.
“We made adequate preparation. We were methodical, we followed the Constitution, and the guidelines to ensure that no loopholes were created in this primary.
“I was in the operation room, we watched you. I was with an INEC Commissioner who came to see me. “You followed the procedure. We are taking the result to the NWC meeting for ratification. Thereafter, a Certificate of Return will be given to the candidate. We thank you. “
Earlier in his remarks, while presenting his report, Governor Ododo thanked the national chairman of the party for the confidence in his team.
He also urged all the aspirants who lost out in the race to rally round his Ondo State counterpart for the latter victory in the off-season election.
He said:” The APC primary election has successfully produced a candidate to fly the flag of our great party come November 16, 2024 in Ondo State.
“Your Excellency, I sincerely and greatly appreciate your style of leadership. I also want to appreciate our members for giving you the needed support in painstakingly selecting very committed, sincere, and experienced politicians into that committee (Ondo primary election) to work as a team.
“We also thank members of our great party in Ondo State and other stakeholders in different communities for giving us the needed cooperation and understanding.
“On this note, I want to present the reports of the governorship election one after the other. Here is the summary report as collated at the State collation centre in Ondo where about 16 aspirants contested. Today, we now have a candidate we are all proud of and I appealed to all the aspirants to unite with him ahead of the governorship election.”
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