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Former Minister of Power and governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adebayo Adelabu, has rejected the outcome of the party’s governorship primary election in Oyo State, citing widespread irregularities as Senator Sharafadeen Alli reportedly won with a thumping majority.
Adelabu, who spoke in Ibadan on Friday, described the conduct of primary elections across the State as deeply flawed and lacking in transparency, insisting that the exercise was neither free, fair nor credible.
He said the process was marred by serious misconduct, including infractions in several neighborhoods and the start of voting hours before the officially approved time.
The former minister expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the operation in several parts of the state, claiming that reports reaching his camp indicated that election officials had not strictly followed party guidelines during the primaries.
According to him, the alleged irregularities undermined the integrity of the exercise and cast doubt on the credibility of the results. Adelabu also promised to formally petition the national leadership of the APC over what he described as widespread violations in the five geopolitical zones of Oyo State.
He said the complaints are not limited to Ibadan alone, stressing that the party leadership must investigate the conduct of the operation in order to protect internal democracy and maintain the confidence of party members ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
Despite rejecting the trial, Adelabu secured a commanding victory in District 9 in Ibadan South East Local Government Area, where he polled 430 votes to defeat Senator Alli, who polled three votes in the district.
However, as the contest continued across the state at the time of filing this report, Senator Alli was said to be maintaining a strong lead in the overall tally, setting the stage for a hotly contested finish to the APC governorship primaries in Oyo State.
At the time of writing this article, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, the lawmaker representing Oyo South in the National Assembly, has won the statehood ticket in Oyo State. He won the direct primary elections held in the 33 local government areas, obtaining a total of 578,143 votes. His closest rival was Senator Abdulfatai Buhari who got 37,265 votes while the former minister got 19,193 votes.
