"I have, therefore, resolved to use the internal mechanism of the party to seek an immediate redress of this clear case of injustice which is contrary to the spirit of transparency and justice being propagated by the new leadership of our party led by the National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus."
Akin Ogunbiyi, the runner-up in the Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election held on Saturday, has rejected the result of the poll.
Senator Ademola Adeleke was declared the winner[story_link align="left"]61365[/story_link] of the primary election of the party, after he was initially said to have polled a total of 1,569 votes to Ogunbiyi's 1,559. However, Akin Adeyi, one of Ogunbiyi's agents, insisted that the ballot papers be recounted, after which the votes rose to 1,562.
SaharaReporters observed[story_link align="left"]61364[/story_link] that Adeyi was not satisfied, as he demanded that the votes of the winner (Adeleke) be recounted but this was rebuffed by the electoral committee.
Seriake Dickson, Bayelsa State Governor, who chaired the electoral committee of the primary, announced the results at the GTM Hotel and Events Centre.
Ogunbiyi has now said he scored more than the number of votes credited to him by the electoral committee.He alleged that the accreditation, voting, sorting and counting of the ballot papers used for the primary election were manipulated to favour Adeleke.
He vowed to reclaim his mandate, claiming it was given to him by the majority of the delegates who voted at the primary.
“I assure you all that the mandate which was freely given to me by majority of the delegates will be reclaimed by the special grace of God," he said on Monday.
“The outcome of that primary has been a subject of concern to a great majority of our party members who have been disappointed, disillusioned and confused by the conduct of the exercise and the results as declared by the panel led by His Excellency, Governor Seriake Dickson.
“Some of the major issues which compromised the integrity of the exercise and made the results clearly unacceptable include the non-adherence to the clear provisions of the Electoral Guidelines and unfortunate manipulation of the accreditation, voting, sorting and counting of the votes cast by delegates at the primaries.
“Consequent upon these infractions, therefore, the votes attributed to me at the end of the voting exercise were much lower than what I actually scored as valid votes.
"I have, therefore, resolved to use the internal mechanism of the party to seek an immediate redress of this clear case of injustice which is contrary to the spirit of transparency and justice being propagated by the new leadership of our party led by the National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.
“While this process is on, I wish to use this opportunity to thank leaders and members of our party who stood by me before, during and after the primary,”