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By Miftaudeen Raji

A candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC primary for Oyo South Senatorial District,  Kolapo Kola-Daisi has insisted that he remains the duly elected candidate of the APC.

He said, having scored the majority votes, he should be allowed to prepare for and contest the general election scheduled for February 2023.

Recall that Kola-Daisi had been declared the winner, having scored the majority of 212 votes, while his closest contender, Alhaji Sharafadeen Alli polled 107 votes in the senatorial primary held on May 29, 2022.

He alleged that the election was, however, arbitrarily cancelled and within 24 hours, a rerun was scheduled to hold on the 31st of May, 2022.

The first primary saw Kola-Daisi poll the highest number of votes on Sunday, while  Alhaji Sharafadeen Alli polled the highest number of votes in the controversial rerun held on Tuesday.

Rejecting Tuesday’s result, Kola-Daisi had called for a second rerun, claiming that the number of accredited delegates for Tuesday’s exercise was 488, whereas 489 votes were recorded.

Alli led with 185 votes on Tuesday, followed by Kola-Daisi who polled 145 votes.

Sen. Kola Balogun polled 84 votes; Bimbo Adekanmbi got 72 votes; Ayodeji Karim had a vote, while two votes were voided.

Kola-Daisi, who noted that irregularities were noted at the election of May 29th, argued that any review of the result of that election could only be done through the appropriate electoral appeal process.

He said, “This appeal process would review any issues raised, invite interested parties to make representations and make decisions based on facts, the constitution of our party and also by relevant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Furthermore, the appeal process requires obtaining necessary approvals within the party hierarchy to carry out its recommendations.

“How all of this can happen without inviting aspirants and in less than 24 hours does not suggest fairness. The party or its election committees should not unilaterally cancel an election without following due process.”

Meanwhile, Kola-Daisi has called his supporters, party members and delegates to distance themselves from what he described as a sham.

He said his call was based on the fact that the number of votes cast was one number above the number of registered delegates.

He said he did not participate in the primary election purportedly held on the 31st of May, 2022, tagged, “a re-run.”

He said, “We joined the APC based on our conviction of its progressive policies; that everyone is equal, that every citizen deserves to benefit from the deeds of good governance, providing opportunities for young people, proffering workable solutions to establishing a welfare system for the less privileged,

“We believe APC will enable proportional redistribution of wealth through a fairer tax system, and developing innovative and people-centred policies aimed at adequate availability of public goods such as schools, hospitals and necessary infrastructure to make people’s lives easier.

“The events of the last few days have shown why so many youths are left disenfranchised and apathetic towards politics. The lack of internal democracy in political parties discourages willing participants. A fairer system will benefit our party significantly by bringing to the table different ideas as well as different perspectives to finding solutions to issues of today,” he added.

He h,owever, encouraged youths, who have an interest in politics not to lose faith.