In Lagos State, hoodlums almost marred the exercise as delegates from the 20 local government areas were waylaid and harassed on their way to and out of the venue. Some of them were dispossessed of their personal effects.
The exercise, scheduled to commence by 9am eventually kicked off at noon with delegates’ accreditation which lasted for two hours before the actual election started at 2pm at Onikan Stadium, Lagos Island.
APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Governor Babatunde Fashola were absent at the event.
At about 3pm, the agents of the aspirants were seen distributing envelopes containing various sums of money to delegates to secure their votes.
A delegate from Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area, who did not want his name in print, said the aspirants had been enticing the delegates with money before the primaries and they intensified their efforts at the venue of the primaries.
He said: “I got to this venue to discover that the aspirants were dishing out between N20,000 to N25,000 to get our votes and I believe this is the only opportunity I have to collect this money. Whether I collect the money or not, it will not change my decision on who to vote for.”
Tinubu however sent emissaries to the aspirants to allow the prevailing peace in the party to reign even after the results were announced. According to his statement read by Joe Igbokwe, the APC Publicity Officer, Tinubu enjoined the aspirants to be magnanimous in victory or defeat.
As at the time of filing this report, the election was still ongoing and there were indications that the race was between Akinwunmi Ambode and Senator Ganiu Solomon as other aspirants had left the venue.
Ambode and Solomon sat adjacent to each other while some of their supporters smoke substance suspected to be Indian helm in their presence, singing their praise.
In Rivers State, Senators Magnus Abe and Wilson Ake were conspicuously absent at the primaries of the APC, held in Port Harcourt.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi, in a bid to save his face, spoke glowingly to pacify the Ogoni who are angry over the non-selection of their kinsman for the office.
He told the audience that his choice of the member representing Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency, Hon. Dakuku Peterside, was his strong belief in power rotation, saying it was the turn of the Rivers South East Senatorial zone to produce the governor of the state.
In his speech, the Chairman of State Governorship Primary Election Committee,Augustine Eweka, announced that the governor’s arrangement of producing a consensus candidate, was an innovation and a new dimension in the political history of the nation, noting it had made the work easier for his panel.
The 4,574 delegates of the party in the state ratified the endorsement of Peterside as the party’s consensus governorship candidate.
In Taraba State, three gubernatorial aspirants boycotted the primaries over alleged irregularities.
Addressing journalists at the Jolly Nyame Stadium, venue of the exercise, spokesman of the aggrieved aspirants, Barr Yusufu Nya Akirikwen, who named his colleagues as Alhaji M.T. Tuba and Dr. Mohammed Julde Suleiman, said they were dissatisfied with the entire process.
He told journalists that the committee for the conduct of the exercise was in town on Sunday for the primaries slated for yesterday but the three of them were not informed on its arrival.
But the state party chairman, Alhaji Jika Ardo, insisted that the affected aspirants were not serious with the election hence they boycotted it.
Meanwhile, the APC in Jigawa State postponed the election to tomorrow to pick a consensus candidate from the aspirants.
When Nigerian Pilot visited the party’s secretariat in Dutse yesterday, the premises was deserted.
It was learnt that four APC gubernatorial aspirants in the state: Hon. Farouk Adamu Aliyu, Alhaji Muhammadu Badaru,Alhaji Saleh Shehu and Hashim Ubale Yusuf held a closed-door meeting on Wednesday night to agree on a consensus candidate.
The primaries in Cross River earlier fixed yesterday will now hold tomorrow.
The shift may not be unconnected with the planned defection of some aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party, PDP members to APC.
Sources within the party told Nigerian Pilot that the rescheduling of the primaries was to enable the decampees participate in the exercise.
The People’s Democratic Party in Cross River has been enmeshed in series of crisis which has polarized the party and efforts reportedly made to resolve the conflict have so far failed.
This newspaper reliably gathered that about 3,000 delegates including wards, local governments, state and national officers of the party from Cross River are expected to vote during the party’s governorship primaries.
The situation was the same in Benue State as party members who looked forward to the conduct of the primaries were disappointed when they learnt that the exercise had been shifted to today.
When Nigerian Pilot visited the party’s secretariat in Makurdi, the state capital yesterday, the premises was deserted while the state chairman, Mr. Abba Yaro, was said to be out of the office.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is set to pick the APC governorship ticket in Soko State.
Four aspirants are jostling for the office, but Tambuwal is favoured by the establishment. The other aspirants are Senator Umar Dahiru, Prof Lawal Bashar and Aliyu Abubakar.
At the time of filing this report, Tambuwal was leading in 10 local government areas.
Olorogun O’tega Emerhor yesterday became the first winner of the APC primaries as he received 3,584 votes to clinch the Delta State governorship ticket of the party.
Chairman of the APC Electoral Committee, Alhaji Aliyu Sa’ad, who announced the results at 6.15pm, said Sir Okenmor Fidelis Tilije scored 195 votes while Princess Nana Modupe Onwodi got two votes.
Sa’ad said that 3,752 delegates were accredited, the total vote cast was 3,587, valid votes were 3,584 and invalids were three.
Tilije staged a walkout, stressing that his opponent was campaigning at the venue.
Contrary to speculations that aspirants of the gubernatorial race under APC in Kaduna State will step down for former FCT Minister, Nasir el-Rufai, all the aspirants are contesting the race.
The five aspirants are: Salihu Lukman, Haruna Saeed, Isah Ashiru, Muhammad Shamsudeen Ango Abdullahi and Malam Nasir el-Rufai.
The primaries were conducted under peaceful atmosphere with high presence of security agents.
In Oyo State, the incumbent governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has polled 4,662 votes to defeat his contender, Dr. Ayobami Wasiu Adesina, son of former governor of the state, the late Alhaji Lamidi Adesina, who polled 22 votes. Ninety votes were declared invalid.
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