Ekiti Representative Rejects APC Primary Result, Calls for New Election

A member of the House of Representatives for Ekiti North Federal Constituency II, Kolawole Akinlayo, has rejected the outcome of Saturday’s primary election conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Akinlayo, who described the primary as a sham, claimed that no election took place in his constituency, which covers the Ido/Osi/Moba/Ilejemeje local government areas of the state.

Speaking to reporters in Ado‑Ekiti, the federal lawmaker called for the Saturday election to be cancelled and for a fair and credible poll to be held under tight security.

Insisting that there was no election, Akinlayo said, “That’s a fact, because in the entire Ilejemeje, there was no election. For me, the primary election was a sham, and it was a disgrace to democracy.”

“Figures were written. People were in the queue from 8 am to almost 11 am. Nobody came to attend to them. We saw some men trying to disperse people and results sheets were taken, and they wrote the results. Also some government officials came asking to see the electoral officer, and collected the photocopy of the resource sheet, and went away with it and drove them away. I have all the video evidence of all these things happening. So, is that what we call an election? That was not an election. Manipulated figures were announced,” he alleged.

While maintaining that elections must be credible to be acceptable to all, he added, “It has to be fair and free, but for the one conducted on Saturday there was nothing like an election, it was a sham and a rape of democracy.”

“Let the popular candidate emerge. There should be no intimidation. If you know you’re popular, go for a contest, defeat not by using government instruments to intimidate other contestants.”

He said they would all go to the party leaders to present their grievances and explain what happened to them, adding that he has evidence of what transpired during the exercise.

Akinlayo advised his supporters to remain calm, resilient and peaceful. “We are not violent; we will take back our mandate in a lawful way. We will approach the leadership of the party and tell them what transpires with video evidence. We have two agents in each ward monitoring the exercise.”

On those behind the whole issue, he said, “It’s not the party, it’s some element in the party. We trust the party, we trust the judgment of the leadership of the party. We’ll take it up, and they will resolve it, because I said I have evidence.”

Speaking on the claims that the police have declared him wanted, he said, “The police have not declared me wanted. There was nothing of such. They cannot declare me wanted. I am a serving member of the House of Representatives. I can only be invited and nobody has invited me. And why would they invite me when I am not a criminal.”

“I was not in the hotel when they came here. I was in my house. I only stayed in the hotel for two days because my house was fumigated. So I left the place after two days, and I came back to my house.”