The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Sunday conducted its presidential primary election peacefully across the 203 wards in Ondo State as collation of results commenced across the Local Government Areas.
The exercise, which formed part of the party’s nationwide process to elect its presidential candidate, featured former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and economist Mohammed Hayatu-Deen as aspirants for the party’s ticket.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP shortly after the exercise, the Ondo State Secretary of the ADC, Ambassador Olakunle Adeloye, said the primary commenced early in the day with party members converging at various ward collation centres across the state.
He disclosed that results from the exercise were still being collated at the time of filing this report, noting that it was too early to determine the eventual winner.
According to him, the party had begun collating results from Local Government Areas across the state, stressing that the process remained orderly and transparent.
“We are in the process of collating results from local government to local government, so I cannot say specifically who will emerge because I’m not a soothsayer,” he said.
Adeloye further described the three aspirants as competent and experienced individuals capable of leading the country, adding that whoever emerges would enjoy the support of the party.
“One thing I can tell you is that the three aspirants are competent, qualified and possess the required experience to be president of Nigeria. At the end of the collation, whoever emerges as the candidate of the party will be the choice of the party and by extension the people,” he added.
The party secretary explained that the primary election was conducted simultaneously across all the 203 wards in Ondo State in line with the party’s grassroots democratic structure.
“As we turn power down to the grassroots, each of the 203 wards in Ondo State converged at their collation centres or meeting points, and the results are trickling in one after the other,” he added.
Assessing the overall mood of the exercise, Adeloye described the process as peaceful, credible and free from violence, insisting that no incident of disruption was recorded during the primary election in the state.
According to him, the ADC remained committed to democratic ideals and peaceful political engagement.
He stressed “ADC is a peaceful party that believes in the sanctity of the ballot rather than the sanctity of the gun. Our party is not the type that carries guns and ammunition against members during elections. So, the exercise was peaceful, clear and had the highest degree of credibility.”
