Osun Senator, Fadeyi rejects APC primary election result, cites irregularities

The senator representing Osun Central, Olubiyi Fadeyi, has rejected the outcome of the All Progressives Congress, APC, senatorial primary election held ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Fadeyi, who contested for the APC ticket, lost the primary election to Adekunle Rasheed Adegoke.

However, he has described the exercise as invalid.

In a statement he made available to journalists in Osogbo on Tuesday, the senator alleged that no credible primary election took place across the Osun Central Senatorial District on May 19.

The chairman of the Osun APC National Assembly primary election committee, Mr Bayo Ayo, had earlier announced that Adegoke emerged winner of the exercise after polling 26,655 votes.

According to the committee, Fadeyi secured 13,138 votes, while other aspirants recorded lower figures during the exercise conducted across the district.

The committee further stated that Yomi Ogunwale scored 2,925 votes, Akintunde Adegboye polled 342 votes, while Olu Fakeye received 67 votes.

Rejecting the outcome, Fadeyi alleged that the figures allocated to aspirants were prepared outside the official electoral process and insisted that no lawful primary election occurred.

The senator alleged that the process was manipulated to deny him victory in the contest.

He said, “No valid primary election was conducted on May 19 across the 116 wards in Osun Central Senatorial District.

“The exercise was deliberately manipulated to rig me out of the process. There was no official collation centre. Results were instead written in an undisclosed hotel in Osogbo.”

He also claimed that President Bola Tinubu and other APC leaders had supported a consensus arrangement for the Osun Central Senatorial District before the primary was conducted.

Fadeyi expressed disappointment that the alleged agreement was later abandoned and urged his supporters to remain calm while party mechanisms were being explored to challenge the outcome.

He said the mandate allegedly taken from him “through the back door would not stand”.

 “Appropriate channels within the party had already been activated to address the situation,” he added. 

Fadeyi appealed to leaders of the APC in Osun State to intervene urgently, maintaining that he remained committed to the progress and unity of the party.

Responding to the development, Osun APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, said aggrieved aspirants were constitutionally entitled to seek redress through established party mechanisms.

Olabisi said, “It is within the constitutional right of any dissatisfied aspirant to seek redress through the party’s mechanism set up for such purpose. At any point in time, to jaw-jaw is better than to war-war. Our democracy is indeed advancing.”