Ondo APC primary: Politicians are kidnapping delegates – Governorship aspirant alleges

An All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Ondo State, Mr. Segun Abraham at the weekend alleged that other contestants for the party’s ticket have been kidnapping delegates ahead of this Saturday’s primary election.

Abraham is reportedly being backed by the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu.

Since the announcement of his endorsement, the party in the state has been enmeshed in crisis as 23 other aspirants and majority of the party leaders are against his choice.

While featuring on a live programme of a private radio station in Akure, Ondo State, Abraham said aspirants who knew that they would lose the primary election invited some delegates to a meeting but later held them hostage.
“These delegates who never knew the intention of the desperate aspirants went for the meeting but only to be confined and never allowed to go home”, he said.
Apparently referring to the comments of another aspirant, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu against the National Leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu, Abraham described his comment as unfortunate and an ungrateful act.

Akeredolu had in a live radio programme, stated that it was not Tinubu that made him the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate in 2012 and that Tinubu had lost his national leadership of the party by endorsing an aspirant ahead of the forthcoming APC primary.

Abraham described the statement as an act of disrespect to one’s helper, highlighting all that Tinubu did for Akeredolu.

“Without our National Leader, President Buhammadu Buhari would not have won the ticket of the APC in 2015 and he would not have become the president of Nigeria.
“The National Leader was being accused of imposing me, I was not imposed. Endorsement is different from imposition. Those who regarded the two as the same do not know what they were saying.

“The National Leader only said I am a preferred aspirant that can deliver the state for APC in the coming election.
“There is still going to be primary election and delegates know who they are going to vote for and who can win election for the APC.
“I have met the delegates and they have assured me that they are for me. If we hold the primary election today, I shall have nothing less than 85 per cent of their votes”, he said.
Abraham, who said he used all he could for the ANC candidate in 2012 election, said he expected that he would enjoy the same treatment from other aspirants now that he had been endorsed.

He advised the delegates to be careful of empty promises to avoid being disappointed.