The seven-man Primary Election Committee established to conduct the shadow poll in Ondo State has assured the 16 governorship aspirants of a free, fair, and transparent exercise.
In Akure, the secretary of the committee, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, told newsmen that the committee’s sole aim is to ensure the credibility of the primary.
“The accreditation of the eligible 172,025 party members, whose membership has been revalidated, will begin between 10:00 and 11:00 am, and voting will commence immediately, with voting closing by 2:00 pm,” Omo-Agege stated.
He continued, “We anticipate a seamless and peaceful exercise. This is a family contest, not the general election.
“The only distinction here is that this is a progressive state— an APC state. We are committed to ensuring that, at the end of the eight years of APC, we are set to commence another eight years of another APC administration.
“We believe that whoever emerges as our flag bearer will win the general election. We have assured all aspirants that there should be no bitterness.
“We want to ensure that at the end of the exercise, we face no difficulties in uniting everyone to win during elections. I believe everyone is on board.
“We are not here with any predetermined outcome; it will be a free and fair exercise. That is the only directive we have been given.
“I am accompanied by the Deputy Governor of Kogi State, who is standing for his governor. The governor is the chairman of the committee.
“He will join us in the morning, and that is the assurance given to us, which we have already communicated to the aspirants.
“It will be a free and fair exercise. Whoever wins on the ground is the winner; there are no two ways about it.
“We are here to conduct an election. I am not here to resolve differences arising from the revalidation exercise.
“What I do know is that the register has been given to me, and there is a very marginal, negligible difference between what we have in the membership register certified by INEC and the revalidation register. I think the difference is slightly under 1,200.
“It is expected that as a party, we have the right to revalidate because people move in and out of a party frequently, and not everyone has fulfilled financial commitments to the party.
“As part of the revalidation exercise, we have been able to remove people who were just nominal members, those who are not financial members.
“Only financial members are eligible to vote in this exercise. I believe that is the main purpose of the revalidation exercise.
“We have been provided with a register, and that register has fewer numbers than the original membership, so there should be no issue of over-voting because the total number of people eligible to vote are those on the revalidated register, not the other one.
“We have already explained this to the aspirants, and I think they are comfortable with it.”
