Amid hitches here and there, All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday held governorship primaries across the country to pick its governorship candidates in 31 states where governorship elections will hold next year.

As at the time of filing this report, candidates that emerged from the exercises included Governors Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe) and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara).

In Lagos, Akinwunmi Ambode, favoured candidate of APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was set to win when voting was concluded at about 10pm and sorting of ballots began. By then, Ambode was the only aspirant of the 12 in the contest remaining at the venue as others had left in disappontment.

Other APC aspirants who clinched the party’s tickets include Hon. Dakuku Peterside (Rivers), Aisha Alhassan (Taraba), Okey Ezea (Enugu), Olorogun O’tega Emerhor (Delta), Umana Umana (Akwa Ibom) and House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto).

The primaries were trailed by high-wire politicking, intrigues and violence in some states.

In Oyo, where the primaries lasted till 7:45 p.m., Governor Ajimobi polled 4,662 votes to defeat his opponents, Dr. Ayobami Adesina, son of late Alhaji Lamidi Adesina, who polled 92 votes. Ninety votes were declared invalid.

The third aspirant, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, who was on Monday cleared in Lagos to contest along with the two others, withdrew after filing a suit at the Federal High Court, Ibadan, asking the court to declare the congress invalid and illegal in view of the manner the delegates were selected.

In Nasarawa, Governor Al-Makura polled a total of 1,630 votes out of the 1,726 total votes cast to beat James Angbanzo and Mr. Reuben Audu in the governorship primary held at the Lafia City Hall. Mr. Angbanzo came second with 74 votes, leaving Mr Audu trailing behind with 17 votes, as five votes cast were counted invalid.

Governors Ahmed (Kwara), Geidam (Yobe) and Yari (Zamfara) emerged unopposed.

In Sokoto, Speaker Tambuwal polled over 3,000 votes to defeat Senator Dahiru Tambuwal and Mallam Yushau, who polled 23 and 13 votes respectively.

At the Uyo Township Stadium, the former secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, won with a total of 2,444 votes as against six votes polled by Senator John Akpanudoedehe. Group Capt. Ewang (rtd) scored one vote while Mr. Emmanuel Ekpenyong got two votes.

Emerhor floored Fidelis Tilije in the battle for the Delta State APC governorship ticket held at the Oshimili Arcade, Asaba.

He polled 3,584 of the 3,752 votes to beat Tilije, who polled 165 votes and Princess Nana who got two votes. Two votes were voided. Declaring Emerhor winner, chairman of the primary election committee in the state, Alhaji Aliyu Saad, said the election was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere devoid of rancour and it was free and fair.

However, the primaries were marred by a controversy, forcing Tilijie and his supporters to walk out in protest. The aggrieved Tilije described the event as a charade.

Peterside, a member of the House of Representatives and Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s candidate, picked the ticket in Rivers State in a contest that Senator Magnus Abe shunned.

The Rivers APC caucus last Wednesday adopted Peterside as consensus governorship candidate ahead of Abe.

Chairman of the governorship election panel for the state, Prince Austin Eweka, lauded the party in the state for making the job of his panel a very easy one with the earlier adoption of Hon. Peterside as its consensus governorship candidate.

Nevertheless, the party still went ahead to conduct the primaries. A total of 3,733 out of 4,321 accredited delegates voted for Mr. Peterside. There were 3,914 valid votes and 140 voided ballots.

A renowned business man and shipping magnet, Chief Okechukwu Ezea, emerged unopposed as the governorship candidate of APC in Enugu State.

The primaries, held at the party’s state secretariat, was peaceful as a total of 3,467 delegates from 260 wards in the state, unanimously affirmed him as the party’s candidate for the 2015 governorship election.

Three of the eight aspirants in Taraba protested the conduct of the primary in the state won by Jumai Aisha Alhassan.

The aggrieved aspirants, Mohammed Suleiman, Mohammed Ibrahim and Yusufu Akirikwen, alleged that the team conducting the election was doing the bidding of Alhassan.

They told journalists that they asked for the list of delegates prior to the election but they were kept in the dark on all the information relating to the conduct of the exercise held at Jolly Nyame Stadium, Jalingo. Also, the name of one of the aspirants, Ezekiel Afukonyo, was reportedly omitted from the list of contestants. The head of the election panel sent from Abuja, Kola Shittu, promised to brief the press on all the issues later.

The crisis rocking the Benue State chapter of the APC deepened yesterday resulting in a free-for-all by top officials of the party at its state secretariat in Makurdi. The crisis also led to the confiscation of primary election materials.

•Adapted from reports in Vanguard, Daily Sun and Channels. Photo courtesy of Daily Sun.

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