Chairman of the Appeals Committee for the Edo State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election, Honourable Opeyemi Bamide on Friday said that the primaries may be cancelled if it becomes necessary to do so.
Bamidele’s committee was billed to submit the outcome of its assignment on Friday, 24th June, 2016, but could not do so, because of the weighty allegations before it challenging the integrity of the electoral process of the primary election conducted by the Kastina State Governor, Bello Masari-led committee.
Speaking to newsmen at a press briefing held at the party’s national secretariat Abuja, Bamidele said”Gentlemen of the Press, on behalf of this committee, I want to assure all of you, canceling this primaries is not something we are going to blink an eye if it become so necessary base on our finding not only our findings as laymen but also on findings base on expertise that has been placed at the disposal of our committee we are inviting those who are experts in forensic analysis to also look into some of these issues, because it is either it is not true or it is true.
He said “It is not about the number of petitioners we have, just two out of twelve, but it is about the issues they raised, a lot of the issues are very weighty, very sensitive issues that could not be swept under the carpet.
According to him, “Some of the issues for instance have to do with the integrity of the ballot papers that were used to conduct the primaries in Benin City and as far as we are concern we felt that there is no way we could conclude this and submit a report to the party without having to do some manual inspection and possible forensic analysis of the ballot papers if justice on this matter would be done.
Bamidele explained that “If it is true that is the integrity of the ballot papers has been compromised then definitely there is no way the result of such primary election can stand. And I don’t think is an issue we are going to loss any sleep on. Governor Oshiomhole led the team to Bayelsa to conduct the primaries in Bayelsa, personally, he wasn’t convinced by the time the results were announced he put down his foot until another round of primaries has to be conducted in Bayelsa. So he himself set a precedent in that respect.
“It is not just about these petitioners who are making the allegation,it is also about the integrity of the entire process and more so in a matter of few weeks as the party would also be going to Ondo State to also carry out governor primaries and thereafter in some other state and we feel that the issues of integrity of our electoral process is one that should be consider very seriously and today we have come here to explain our position to the leadership of the party. We have met with the National Organising Secretary and of course both the National Organising Secretary and the National Chairman of the party who also have been in consultation with other members of the National Working Committee of the party have agreed to extend the time, you know, the dateline for us to submit this report till next week.
“It is not about individual is about the integrity of the party, is about the integrity of the electoral process and I want to assure you if it become an issue, we are not going to blink an eye on that, but we must all be convinced. if are going to say this must done, we have to know what basis we are saying that and if we are going to say no the integrity is not compromised, we must also know what basis we are saying that. We just need to be scientific which ever conclusion we draw.”
