The committee to supervise the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Ondo state, on Friday, said a total of 171,922 accredited members would vote on Saturday.

The primary is scheduled to hold in 203 wards in 18 local government areas with 16 aspirants including the governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, contesting.

Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, the Secretary of the seven-man committee, stated this after its meeting with stakeholders and aspirants on Friday night in Akure .

He said that none of the aspirants had before the eve of the exercise withdrawn or stepped down for another candidate.

The secretary said that the committee was ready to conduct the primary using  the direct mode in all the 203 wards across the state.

He appealed to the aspirants to caution their supporters to allow the peaceful conduct of the primary for the progress of the party.

Omo-Agege assured of the committee’s resolve to strictly follow the guidelines and constitution of the party and conduct a transparent, fair and credible election.

He said that the committee would collaborate with the security agencies in the state to forestall breakdown of law and order before, during and after the primary.

The committee is headed by Gov. Usman Adodo of Kogi.

The founder of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Dr Boniface Aniebonam, says the move by Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso and the Kwankwasaya Movement to hijack the party structure is a betrayal of trust.

Speaking at a news conference in Lagos on Friday, Aniebonam said he gave Kwankwaso the platform of the party to achieve his political ambition of becoming Nigeria’s president on a platter of gold.

Aniebonam said he singlehandedly registered and nurtured the NNPP from 2002 until 2022 when Kwankwaso and his team approached him to fly the flag of the party in the 2023 presidential election.

He said: “Buba Galadima led the delegation, including Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi and Prof. Sam Angai to my country home in Anambra, to plead for us to accept Kwankwaso in NNPP.

“After the talks, I placed a call to Kwankwaso and after asking him questions about his intentions for Nigeria, I offered him the platform of NNPP as its sole candidate.

“I believed that Kwankwaso was not aware of the internal crisis in the party until he came out openly on live television, displaying a new logo and flag for the NNPP and mutilating its constitution.

“It is disturbing and if I continue to keep quiet, it will not be in the interest of the soul of the party as the founder and at some point, its board chairman.

“The party’s constitution says the founder is a life member of the board and even when I’m alive, my brother and good friend, Kwankwaso, for whatever reasons, is destroying the party I built from 2002 to 2022 when he joined us to contest the 2023 presidency.”

According to him, “I funded the party for 22 years and Kwankwaso wants to hijack it even when he is not a member of the board of the trustees or the leader of the party.

Aniebonam said he founded NNPP after he founded the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) and NAGAFF, therefore, is the parent body of the NNPP.

He recalled that Kwankwaso and others were expelled from the party for anti-party activities but as a life member of the board with inherent powers, he would grant him pardon if he purged himself of what he is doing.

“The kangaroo convention even when there was a court order stopping it, is null and void because a Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday, ruled that NNPP issue is an internal crisis.

“This means that the issues can only be settled using the constitution. However, we are ready to pursue the interpretation of the constitution up to the Supreme Court.”

The NNPP founder said with this singular action, Kwankwaso would no longer enjoy the sole candidacy of the NNPP should he even be pardoned.

By Akintunde Jacobs, Akure

Ahead of tomorrow’s governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Ondo state, Wale Akinterinwa, has charged his teeming supporters to remain calm during the primary election of the party tomorrow Saturday, 20 2024.

Segun Ajiboye, the spokesperson for Wale Akinterinwa Campaign Organisation, in a statement made available to journalists on Friday in Akure, charged the supporters of the organization to remain calm despite the heated rhetoric and beating of war drums by the supporters of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa who have sworn to truncate the peaceful conduct of the primary election.

The statement said further; “You will recall that Akinterinwa and his supporters have peacefully conducted themselves during their tour of the 18 local government areas of Ondo State to solicit for votes of party members.

This reputation of ours should be maintained during the primary election tomorrow. We are confident of victory because we are the best among the rest.

The party members across the length and breadth of Ondo State have listened to us and have decided to vote for good governance. Wale Akinterinwa is the man for the job.

Again, we appeal to all our supporters to conduct themselves peacefully before, during, and after the primary election.