The Conference of All Progressives Congress (APC) Councillorship Aspirants (CACA) in Ondo State has appealed to the party leadership in the state to refund N122 million collected for nomination forms from candidates for the councillorship election in 2018.
Their spokesperson, Mr Orire Akindona, made the appeal in Akure on Wednesday in a statement.
The aspirants are about 1,015 with an average of five aspirants from each of the 203 wards across the 18 local government areas of the state.
Akindona alleged that in September 2018, the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) announced that the Local Government Area Council elections would hold on December 1, 2018.
He alleged that the state party Chairman, Mr Ade Adetimehin, asked all the interested party members to obtain nomination forms at the rate of N100,000 and pay party development fee of N20,000 each.
“We have it on good authority, with our statistics that an average of five aspirants obtained the nomination forms from each of the 203 wards across the state which accumulates to over 1,015 aspirants.
“But to our surprise, there was no primary elections by the party, let alone the anticipated local government election by ODIEC based on the party’s guidelines and ODIEC.
“Till date, there is no official statement either from ODIEC who are the appointees of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu or the Party Chairman, Mr Ade Adetimehin, why the election did not hold.
“We, therefore, appeal to state party Chairman, Mr Adetimehin, to kindly refund our money on or before the forthcoming House of Assembly election slated for March 9, 2019.
“Otherwise, we would ask all our followers not to participate in the election and report the matter to the National Working Committee through the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomole,” he said.
Akindona, who reiterated the group’s commitment to the party, condemned the action of the state working committee of the party for collecting such a huge amount of money from suffering grassroot members of the party.
“We remain loyal and committed to our party, but condemned in totality the action of the State Working Committee led by Mr Ade Adetimehin for collecting about N122 million from suffering grassroots members of the party who are yet to benefit a dime from the government of Akeredolu/APC they suffered to instal in the state,” he said.
