Assembly Speaker, Salihu Wins Kwara APC Gov. Primary Election, As Fmr Minister Faults Result Of Oyo

By Ayodele Oni

The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Engr Yakubu Danladi Salihu, has been declared winner of the gubernatorial primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC)

The primary election, held on Friday,  took place across 193 wards of the state.

The Chairman of the State Primary Election Committee, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, made the declaration at the final collation held at Banquet Hall, opposite Government House, Ilorin.

According to him, Danladi Salihu secured 94,990 votes to defeat other aspirants in the shadow poll.

Obanikoro disclosed that other aspirants such as Abdulfatai Yahaya Seriki garnered 41,700 votes while Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa polled 22,118 votes based on the official tally.

Meanwhile, a former Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu has faulted result of the primary election in the state, declaring that the total number of registered members of All Progressives Congress, (APC), in Oyo State is not up to 500,000.

Adelabu made the assertion on Friday via a statement signed by his media aide, Femi Awogboro.

Adelabu resigned as Minister of Power to contest the Oyo APC gubernatorial primary, but lost to Senator Sharafadeen Alli.

However, Adelabu, who had alleged that the primary election was manipulated, in the statement by his media aide, dismissed claims that Senator Alli polled over 500,000 votes to emerge as the party’s candidate. The statement described the figure as inaccurate.

Adelabu noted that the total number of registered APC members in Oyo State stands at 153,640 and not 500,000.

Adelabu in the statement enjoined members of the party to wait for the official declaration.

The statement noted that it was evident from the turnout that Adelabu enjoys overwhelming grassroots support across the state.

“Those in charge of the results need to be careful and not to be used by anyone to truncate or alter the results because it is already clear to us from what we are collating from each ward,” the statement said.