Stalemated Ekiti Primaries: Ado LG ACN Accuses Opeyemi Of Bribing Delegates

opeyemi-bamidele

Opeyemi Bamidele

Bamidele Opeyemi

The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Ado Local Government has accused one of the aspirants in the stalemated Senatorial primaries in Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Mr. Bamidele Opeyemi of inducing delegates with bribes so that the pendulum will swing to his favour.

Chairman, ACN, Ado Local Government, Oba Aladetoyinbo, while stating the position of the party in the stalemated primaries, lamented that the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy acted badly by going to press to peddle lies when it was clear that fake voters’ register was used during the botched primaries.

In a statement titled: The Stalemated Primaries in Ekiti Central Senatorial District: Our Position, the party said “against the backdrop of the information being peddled in the media by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr Opeyemi Bamidele, we have been compelled to react to some of the allegations made by Mr Bamidele, who is also a Senatorial aspirant in Ekiti Central Senatorial district.

“In the first instance, we think it is unethical for any member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to go into the public domain with grievous allegations against fellow party members, especially on the pages of newspapers, on the web and in various other means of communication as embarked upon by Mr Bamidele.

“The tradition of party discipline dictates that issues bordering on misconduct, if any, should be resolved using the internal mechanism of the party. This has been our position and remains the attitude of genuine progressive elements within the ACN.”

According to the statement, “Unfortunately, while the result of the Senatorial primaries was being expected, we were reliably informed that Mr Bamidele called a press conference where he fed the media and the populace with deliberate lies and falsehood, in a conscious attempt to undermine the reputation of other aspirants and by inference, the status and character of the ACN.

“It is in our bid to set the records straight that we were compelled to react to some of the allegations he made as contained in several Nigerian newspapers.  The party primaries were scheduled for 10 January, 2011; however, five party leaders were mandated by the ACN National leadership to supervise the primaries. Unfortunately, the party Chairman in Ekiti State , Mr Jide Awe, whom we hold in high esteem, did not allow the five members who came from Abuja to conduct the primaries; he was very hostile to them. He kept them in a hotel without any brief as to the venue and the modalities for the primaries.”

It added that this attitude was an extension of the earlier meeting summoned by Mr Awe a week ago where he urged the party leaders in Ekiti West not to support any Senatorial aspirant from Ado-Ekiti on the flimsy excuse that Ado-Ekiti people were “arrogant”.

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“He also mounted an intensive campaign across the Senatorial District insisting  that the party members should vote for Mr. Bamidele who has been ‘oiling the hands’ of party leaders. This is without consideration for the strength of character and reputation of the would-be Senator in Ekiti Central District,” it stated.

The statement further said that two steps were taken by the Ado council ACN to counter this reactionary posture, saying that the first contact was established with the party National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande to complain about the drift from participatory democracy to dictatorship, informed basically by the love for financial inducement.

It stated that the second move was that the party Chairman in Ado Local Government, Oba Aladetoyinbo wrote a letter to the party Chairman, Mr. Awe to complain about the same ignominious move, adding that a copy of the letter was sent to the governor of the state, Dr Kayode Fayemi and the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, prompting the monarch to call for a meeting of stakeholders in Ado Ekiti.

“It is unfortunate that the party Chairman, Mr Awe has a reputation of being hostile to Ado-Ekiti indigenes.  The mode of voting is that the party would register voters, who would use the forms to vote. However, on the day of the primaries, we visited several wards, only to discover that genuine voters’ names were missing on the voters’ list.

“In fact, the names of one of the aspirants and his wife were missing on the voters’ list. We also observed that though voting was expected to begin by 9a.m. by 3p.m.no official was around to attend to the agitated voters. We again called and met the party Chairman, Mr Awe to complain about this awful development. To our surprise, we were shocked to discover that the list of voters brought from Abuja was dumped. Instead a doctored list was presented, meaning that the names were mostly fake.

“The same fake names were displayed in Igede Ekiti. In fact, a huge crowd of people at Okeiyinmi protested against the chains of fake names on the voters’ register. It was observed that the voters’ list sent from Abuja was kept by Mr Awe for a very long period giving room for self-seeking manipulation,” the party noted.

The Ado ACN said on noticing this development, it informed the governor of the development, saying that “it was on this basis and the fact that election materials did not get to voting centres on time, that he called the party Chairman, Mr. Awe to cancel the election in Ekiti Central Senatorial District.

“It is important to note that credible people can only emerge through the free, prior and informed consent of the people and not through the distribution of money to voters; the conscious attempt to manipulate party leaders through cash gift and the deliberate move to trample underfoot all the noble objectives and the kernel principles of democracy which are universally accepted by all democratic forces across the world will not help.

“We urge party members to remain calm, even in the face of grievous provocation with the hope that fresh, credible and people-driven primaries would be organised within the shortest time possible. We call on the ACN national leadership to conduct the primaries since Mr. Awe’s integrity is in doubt.”

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