IMPUNITY AND EXCLUSION: Delta Senatorial Aspirant Threatens To Sue APC - By Muideen Olaniyi

An aspirant for Delta North senatorial district seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ambassador Gabriel Chukwuma Oyibode, has threatened to sue the ruling party if his alleged exclusion from the primary election is not addressed.

Oyibode, who addressed journalists at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, described the exercise that led to the emergence of Mrs Doris Uboh as a kangaroo.

He said that his name was excluded from the ballot paper during the primary held at the party’s state secretariat on October 3, 2018, despite his clearance to participate alongside Doris Uboh and Mrs Ali.

Chukwuma, who said he had not received any feedback despite the fact that his complaints had been sent to the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the National Appeal Committee headed by Professor Osariemen Osunbor, demanded that the party should declare him the winner of the senatorial primary election in Delta North.

“I’m calling on anybody who cares that there was no senatorial primary election in Delta North. I don’t intend leaving the party, but if nothing is done quickly, I will go to court to seek redress”, he threatened. He said:

“Three aspirants, Mariam Ali, Doris Uboh and myself were screened by the party’s screening committee after obtaining the Nomination and Expression of Interest forms to contest the senatorial seat for the Delta North Senatorial District, but unfortunately, the primary election never held on the stipulated date as we waited at the venue and both the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) officials were not there till about 3.30 pm.”

According to the aspirant, after waiting all day, the primary was said to be postponed to the next day where it was held in a different venue outside the official designated venue, the Technical College of Education Asaba, which he claimed he reported to the party election committee chairman, Gen. Lawrence Onoja (rtd).

“I was disfranchised along with my delegates who are the largest in number against a kangaroo election held without my name found on the ballot paper and two boxes provided instead of three.

“This act is tantamount to electoral fraud and I want the world to know what the party has done in the state regarding the primary election,” he said.