The battle to become the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer for the November 16, 2024 governorship election in Ondo State is nearing completion.
“We have come to the end of a significant moment in the history of our great party as we conclude the Ondo State APC primary election,” Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State declared at the Dome Hall of the International Culture and Event Centre in Akure, the state capital, on Sunday night.
The hall, fever-pitched, was crowded by party faithful, representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), local observers and security agents.
Ododo, the Chairman of the seven-member APC committee for the conduct of the governorship primary in the Sunshine State, urged the 16 aspirants to view the exercise as a contest among brothers, reminding them that the greater contest remains the November 16, 2024 governorship poll where the ultimate winner among political parties fielding candidates will be decided by voters.
The Kogi governor, who was flanked by some party chieftains including the deputy committee chair and ex-Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, thereafter called on the returning officers from each of the 18 local governments in Ondo to declare their results.
According to the ruling APC, 171,922 members from the 203 wards of the 18 local government areas of the state were expected to partake in Saturday’s primary.
Sixteen heavyweights are jostling for the party’s ticket for the November poll. They include Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Olusola Oke, Adewale Akinterinwa, Olugbenga Edema, Funmi Waheed-Adekojo, Jimoh Ibrahim, Isaac Kekemeke, Francis Faduyile, Soji Ehinlanwo, Akinfolarin Samuel, Okunjimi Odimayo, Ohunyeye Olamide, Morayo Lebi, Garvey Iyanjan, and Ifeoluwa Oyedele.
Aspirants like Edema, Oke, Akinterinwa and have since condemned the conduct of the exercise and called for its cancellation.
Meanwhile, protest broke out in Akure, the Ondo State capital earlier on Sunday, as some party members called for the annulment of the exercise and the removal of Ododo as the committee’s chair.
Ododo is expected to announce the winner of the exercise any moment from now.