As the All Progressives Congress, APC, holds governorship primary election in Osun, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola did not participate in the process, as he was said to have traveled out of the state for an urgent assignment.
This is as the incumbent Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola won at the Minister’s ward 8 of Ilesa-East local government area of the state.
However, APC Chairman in the ward, Adegoke Saheed lamented alleged removal of their supporters name from the voters’ register.
He also disclosed that the absence of the Minister put them at a disadvantage as the Governor’s faction deployed power of incumbent against them.
“It is unfortunate that the process did not go well at all. I challenged the register book they brought because it is not the register we used during the registration. I was the supervisor then. I supervised the whole ward. I appointed those that registered members at the units.
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“During the accreditation, there were some people that belonged to us and their names could not be found in the register book they brought. I challenged them. I made them know that the register has been doctored. They did not listen because they are incumbent and they are many.
“After the accreditation, I asked them what is the total number of accredited voters. They said they can’t tell me until after the voting. To my own knowledge, all the accredited members can not be up to 300. When they started counting, I started seeing so many faces that I didn’t know. I saw people from ward 4, ward 10 were all there, but they did not listen to me. They counted over 300 for Oyetola and after they counted 146 for us (Adeoti) they said they cannot count again. They disrupted the whole process and ended everything there,” Saheed lamented.
However, in Osogbo local government where Senator Ajibola Basiru voted at Alaagba ward 7, the process was peaceful and he expressed optimism that Governor Oyetola will win the primary election.
He added that unlike speculation that the exercise will be marred with violence, the exercise was free and fair.
