FRESH CRISIS HITS ONDO OVER ELIGIBILITY OF APC DELEGATES
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A fresh crisis over the eligibility of some All Progressive Congress delegates from Ondo State is brewing.
It was gathered in Abuja on Thursday that the election of serving appointed members of the executive branch of the state government to serve as delegates to the upcoming APC Presidential Primary has heightened tension within the party.
Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act states: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”
A document containing the names of delegates from Ondo State indicated that two serving commissioners as well as the serving head of the State Universal Basic Education Board, made the list.
The current state Commissioner for Finance Wale Akinterinwa, who hails from Ile-oluji Okeigbo Local Government Area, is one of such appointees.
The document obtained by reporters showed that his name appeared top of the pack with serial number 1 from his local government area.
His counterpart in the Ministry for Commerce and Industry, Mrs Lola Fagbemi from Ondo West Local Government Area, is also one of the three delegates from her local government area.
Her name was the third on the list of three delegates from her local government area.
The current chairman of the state SUBEB, Hon Victor Olabintan who is from Akoko South West Local Government, was the second name on the list of three from his local government.
Already, the Ilaje/Ese Odo Progressive Union has petitioned the APC National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu with copies addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Ondo state Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
The petitioners asked the party leadership to act fast to and “terminate the nomination of the aforementioned political appointees from Ondo State so that it will not be used against our great party, the APC by opposition parties.”
An Abuja-based legal practitioner, Mefor however noted that the interpretation of the legal provision needed further scrutiny in the light of happenings within the polity.
He said, “The question to ask is, if the persons concerned stood for and were elected for the purpose of serving as delegates for the convention or did their names just appear on the list? The process is as important as the outcome.”
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