One of the All Progressives Congress (APC) contenders in the just concluded primary in Ondo State, Dr Nag Adojutelegan has reacted to what led him to his defeat in the election.
The Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu defeated other contestants with an overwhelming margin to claim the ticket.
In his reaction, Adojutelegan the strategic scientific methods used to rig the elections in favour of the winner,
The statement reads,
“Let us remain joyful and be thankful at all times. I say a big THANK YOU to everyone that supported me in my quest for a better Ondo State.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, election results do not always reflect electoral performance. To those who are gloating over my organised and sponsored temporary electoral misfortune in the just concluded Ondo APC governorship primary election. Please note that I was not oblivious of the political chicanery of election rigging and the attendant pitfalls. I understand the game”
There are different degrees of rigging.
In an article titled “Election Rigging in Nigeria: Coercive to Co-opting Strategies,” I posited that “the forms of election rigging have continually moved from a more coercive or even violent methods in the early-stage of the country’s democratization process to a more co-opting methods in the later stage democratization. Thus, the prevailing election malpractice is a reflection of our position in the democratization process.”
“In the early days of democratization, the rigging strategies used by political parties included: falsifying election results, snatching of ballot boxes at polling centres or collation centres, and diverting election materials from distribution centres to private residences for thump-printing to mention a few”
The Ondo APC governorship primary election exhibited a combination of coercive rigging and co-opting rigging strategies.
Let me state in brief how the election was rigged for the benefit of the innocent onlookers.
Stage 1: An indirect mode of primary election was adopted to enable delegates that were selected by the declared winner of the election to be the voters.
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Stage 2: The mode to be adopted was not disclosed until Friday, 17 July 2020 for the 20 July 2020 election.
Stage 3: The delegate list was not disclosed to the aspirants until the eve of the election.
Stage 4: The selected delegates were told that they will be given a sum of N150,000 each if they voted for the winner.
View pictures in App save up to 80% data.Stage 5: The accreditation process was flawed in that delegates were allowed to identify themselves with fake membership card without membership numbers.
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Stage 6: The voting process was organised to allow “see and buy. ”
(a) Mobile phones were allowed to be used to take photographs of their ballot papers,
(b) Tables were placed together and multiple delegates were allowed to vote at the same time to allow them to verify how they voted,
(c) Delegates were allowed to display how they voted openly to allow them to verify how they voted,
(d) Delegates were assembled closely together to in a single line to drop their ballot papers in the ballot boxes to allow them to verify how they voted, and
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(e) Delegates were allowed to use their mobile phones to take photographs of their ballot.
View pictures in App save up to 80% data.Stage 7: They singled me out. This is the most wicked and damaging act perpetrated against me. They orchestrated and fabricated falsehood against me that I had stepped down from the APC governorship primary election. The delegates, my supporters and millions of people all over the world believed the scam. The wicked lies demoralised my supporters, confused the delegates and caused me substantial financial losses.
These issues bother on good governance and personal integrity.
God bless.”
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