No fewer than seven prominent governorship aspirants on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State have today raised the red flag over fake membership cards of the party being printed by one unnamed aspirant and distributed to nonmembers of the party in a desperate move to win the Saturday primary of the party.
The seven aspirants, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, Chief Olusola Oke, SAN , Wale Akinterinwa, Prince Diran Iyantan, Prof Dayo Faduyile OON, Hon. Gbenga Edema and Hon. Jimi Odimayo, in a jointly signed petition addressed the National Chairman of the party, disclosed that several fake membership cards of the party had been secretly printed and distributed to people who are not members of the party by another aspirant to ein the party’s primary at all costs of Saturday or discredit the exercise.
Expressing serious concern and urgent need to square the perpetrator in his game, the seven aspirants from the Southern senatorial district of the state disclosed that the desperate aspirant wanted to ensure nonregistered members of the party with fake membership cards vote in the primary with a plan to present this in the court of law to discredit the exercise.
The aspirants, therefore, cautioned the party’s leadership to ensure the Saturday primary is conducted in adherence to the dictates of the Electoral Act to avoid risky litigation.
The petition reads inter Alia: “We, the undersigned, are aspirants from the South senatorial district of Ondo State, who have collected forms to participate in the forthcoming Ondo State gubernatorial primary election slated for the 20th April, 2024.
“We have noticed some issues of concern in respect of the said primary election which if not resolved quickly, may hinder the smooth running of the primary and may be detrimental to a free, fair, credible and acceptable election.
“One of the issues is that of the revalidation of the membership register to be used for the primary election.
“While we commend the position of the party to revalidate the existing membership register which is the certified true copies, as certified by INEC, and based on this directive of the party, as aspirants, we have paid over N300m to the coffers of the party to cover the annual dues of all party members whose names appear on the register, unfortunately, the exercise was shrouded in so much of secrecy that a lot of our party members especially our numerous supporters could not have their membership cards revalidated before the committee that came from the Headquarters left Ondo State for Abuja.
“We have been inundated by reports that a particular aspirant has gone ahead with massive printing of fake party slips, which he has distributed to a lot of persons who are not even our party members.
“The intention of this aspirant is to corrupt the integrity of the membership register on the day of the primary by making accreditation of party members impossible as non-party members have already been recruited to flood the venues of the primary election that day.
“This massive and pervasive production of the membership cards will certainly precipitate a situation where everyone holding membership cards, notwithstanding that their names are not on the register, will be allowed to vote without accreditation. Voting without accreditation remains illegal and unacceptable.
“Mr. Chairman should note that Section 77(2) (3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, makes it mandatory for all political parties to have a credible membership register which must be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and certified by it, not later than 30 days before the Congress.
“To avoid any Legal or Constitutional conundrum, we advise that the party makes accreditation of party members mandatory at the election venue, and that every member of the party whose name appears on the membership register already certified by INEC should be allowed to vote once he/she is able to present his/her membership slip for accreditation.
“It is our prayer therefore that the leadership of the party make available to us the membership register already validly certified by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as the only lawful register to be used by the party for the conduct of the primary election slated for 20/04/2024. No other register can lawfully be used for the said primary election.”
Meanwhile, it would be recalled that a socio-political group within APC, Ondo Vanguard For Good Governance, led by Evangelist Tade Ojo had on Monday alleged Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of printing fake APC register and membership cards and distributing same to nonmembers of the party.
The group alleged that “This undemocratic action heralded their plots to rig the primary election as it has emboldened the state governor and his men to print forged membership cards for their members whose names are contained in the manufactured membership register they gave to the officials that came for the membership validation exercise and also encouraged their agents not to conduct the delegate congress stipulated in the APC guidelines.
“Having realised that the governor is not popular among the APC members in Ondo State, the state governor and these agents of distabilisation have resolved to simply concoct the results of the primary election, and award arbitrary figure to the governor as the winner of the primary election.
“To perfect this perversion, we have it on good authority that a senior member in the cabinet of the governor held a meeting with some INEC officials where he laid bare the offer of the governor. He demanded that the election should not be held, but the result be written only for the monitoring team to write a report that would reflect and support the result that would have been authored and declared by them.”
However, Kayode Fasua, spokesperson for Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organization, had since dismissed the allegations as false.
In his reaction, he said: “The pre-requisite for voting is the party membership card, which will be confirmed digitally. Thank God the attack is no longer on Aiyedatiwa by these lie manufacturers.
“Let them challenge the party leadership over their grievances and I’m sure they will get satisfactory answers.
“The APC remains united, as political aspiration is in the party spirit.”
