Ekiti APC Senatorial Primary Sparks Row as Aggrieved Aspirants Contest Result, Claim Victory

*Arise, Owolabi fault exercise, Fasuyi insists process credible

Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti

Aggrieved aspirants in the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary election in Ekiti North Senatorial District on Tuesday openly rejected the outcome of the exercise, claiming victory and alleging widespread irregularities in the conduct of the poll.

The controversy, which has continued to trail the primary election, pitched former senator, Ayodele Arise, and another aspirant, Dare Owolabi, against the incumbent senator, Cyril Fasuyi, over the authenticity of the declared result.

While Senators Arise and Owolabi dismissed the outcome announced by the APC Senatorial Primary Election Committee as manipulated and fraudulent, Senator Fasuyi insisted that the process was credible and reflected the will of party members across the district.

The APC committee had declared Fasuyi winner of the primary with 14,179 votes, while Arise polled 4,868 votes. Other aspirants, Dipo Bamisaye and Dare Owolabi, secured 3,694 and 2,836 votes respectively.

Addressing journalists separately in Ado Ekiti, both Arise and Owolabi maintained that results collated from several wards showed they performed far better than reflected in the final declaration.

Arise specifically claimed that results from 33 wards indicated that he scored 8,687 votes against Fasuyi’s 7,755 votes before the exercise was allegedly disrupted in parts of the district.

According to him, electoral officials abandoned voting in 12 wards when it became obvious he was leading, while officials allegedly failed to appear in 10 other wards.

He further alleged that the total votes eventually announced by the committee exceeded the registered APC membership in Ekiti North, describing the figures as “mathematically impossible.”

The former senator also accused officials of altering ward results in favour of Fasuyi, citing Iludun I Ward in Ilejemeje Local Government Area where he alleged that votes credited to him were reduced in the final computation.

“I won the election and I have proof. I was rigged out by the system. The result does not represent the wishes of the people. What happened was fraught with irregularities, fraud, violence and intimidation,” Arise said.

Owolabi, who also rejected the outcome, called for outright cancellation of the primary, alleging that the exercise was marred by widespread irregularities and intimidation of voters.

“The election was not fair. There were irregularities across different local governments, wards and units. We know our people, we know how they voted, and we know many of our supporters were terrorised and chased away from voting centres,” he alleged.

He, however, urged his supporters to remain peaceful, saying attention should now shift to the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

“We will continue to pursue the matter concerning the primary election, but for now all party members should focus on the governorship election and work together for the success of our governor,” he added.

But reacting to the allegations, Fasuyi described the claims by the aggrieved aspirants as baseless and urged them to accept the outcome in good faith for the unity of the party.

The senator, who also serves as Director-General of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s re-election campaign, said his victory was a reflection of his grassroots support and performance in office.

“I want to appeal to Senator Arise and other aspirants to accept the outcome of the primary election in good faith and join hands with us to move the party forward,” Fasuyi said.

“I’m the incumbent senator representing Ekiti North and also the Director-General of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s re-election campaign. I have remained actively connected to the grassroots and the people know the efforts we have made. So why would anybody expect me to lose the primary?” he asked.

Fasuyi also dismissed allegations of intimidation and manipulation during the exercise, insisting that the primary was conducted in line with APC guidelines.

He called on all aggrieved aspirants and their supporters to unite ahead of the June 20 governorship election and the 2027 general election.