The Minister of Mines and Steel Development and Governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Kayode Fayemi, has condemned the disruption of the party’s governorship primary election, Saturday, in Ado Ekiti, by thugs believed to be working for some aspirants in the race.
The leading governorship aspirant says the party does not deserve the type of ridicule which the shameful act of the hoodlums had subjected it to.
The Minister, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Yinka Oyebode, said the disruption of the primary election was the height of desperation on the part of some aspirants, who having seen defeat staring them in the face, conspired together to ensure that the exercise was not concluded.
Dr Fayemi said the aspirants resorted to violence and destruction, having realised that he was already in a clear lead in the five local governments that had cast their votes.
Dr Fayemi, who said he was not surprised by the disruption of the exercise, revealed that the security agencies had, a few days to the primary, been notified of plans by some aspirants to deploy hoodlums to disrupt the voting exercise.
He, however said that the security agencies took note of the information and promised to beef up security at the venue.
“It is quite painful seeing some desperate elements trying so much to rubbish the party we all laboured to build to national reckoning, out of share lust for power.
“If the quest for political position is to serve, then one wonders why the desperation being displayed by the likes of Femi Ojudu and Bimbo Daramola.
“Certainly the conduct of these desperate aspirants falls short of the minimum standards expected of anyone that professes progressive ideals.
“We urge our teeming supporters and loyal party members not to be discouraged by this despicable act. This surely shall pass, and better days are ahead. Our collective rescue mission has indeed begun.”
Meanwhile, the primary has been postponed indefinitely following the violence which trailed the exercise on Saturday at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium in Ado-Ekiti.
The leader of the APC team conducting the exercise and Nasarawa governor, Alhaji Tanko Al-Makura, hurriedly entered his vehicle and left the venue after an emergency meeting with all the 33 aspirants on the way forward failed to yield result.
Though Al-Makura did not formally brief newsmen on the agreement reached with the aspirants, NAN learnt that the need to extract commitment from them for a peaceful conduct in a rescheduled exercise dominated the discussions.
Confirming the postponement, two of the aspirants, Mr Bimbo Daramola and former Speaker, Mr Femi Bamisile, said it was a unanimous verdict at the meeting that the process should be suspended indefinitely.
“There was an issue somewhere about the exercise and they raised observation about sharp practices that had compromised the process which led to protest and the feeling was that the process should be suspended to avoid bloodshed,’’ Daramola said.
NAN reports that only delegates from four local governments had concluded their voting when violence erupted .
Trouble started at about 5.30 pm when some agents raised observations about how the process was being allegedly compromised, accusing some security agents of dictating to delegates who they should vote for.
The resultant violence led to shots being fired sporadically into the air by security agents when the situation was deteriorating, resulting in many scampering for safety.
It was learnt that all efforts made by members of the Al-Makura committee that supervised the primary to restore order failed.
The Director General of Babafemi Ojudu Campaign Organisation, Chief Ranti Adebisi, and some agents had complained that the process had been compromised.
