ONDO POLL: AAC threatens to sue INEC over removal of running mate’s name

The African Action Congress (AAC) said on Sunday it would take legal action against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for replacing the name of its Ondo deputy governorship candidate with an unknown person.

The party disclosed this in a statement issued in Akure by its Chairman, Alex Adeniyi and the Publicity Secretary, Mr. Oluwasunkanmi Oni.

INEC had on Friday unveiled the list of the 17 governorship candidates and their running mates ahead of the October 10 governorship election in the state

The statement read: “AAC Ondo State chapter wishes to register her displeasure on the list released by INEC on the Ondo State governorship election.

“It is ignominious for INEC, a body that is expected to be apolitical, to collaborate with some unrecognized entities for reasons best known to them to tamper with the structure and constitution of our party.”

The AAC added that it conducted the governorship primaries on July 25 at the International Culture and Event Centre (DOME) where Prince Adekunle Adeleye was elected as the party’s governorship candidate.

READ ALSO: INEC unveils full list of Ondo governorship candidates

“Thereafter, Prince Adekunle Adeleye’s name and the deputy governorship candidate, Mrs. Mopelola Evelyn Ibrahim, were duly sent to INEC as party’s governorship and deputy governorship candidates respectively.

“However, it is surprising that INEC went on to manufacture an unknown deputy governorship candidate, namely Samuel Tope Omotosho, who is totally unknown to our party, who is not and have never been a member of our party either in Ondo State or anywhere in Nigeria.

“At this point, we demand INEC to abjure her errors at once and replace the unrecognized name (Samuel Tope Omotosho) with the authentic name (Mrs. Mopelola Evelyn Ibrahim) submitted to the commission by the party or face legal action.

“Enough of this inglorious act of INEC meddling with the internal affairs of political parties, AAC inclusive, each time there is an election.

“We reject in its entirety, the unknown name paired with Prince Adekunle Adeleye, our party’s gubernatorial candidate, as running mate,” it added.

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