An All Progressives Congress (APC, governorship aspirant in Kogi State, Smart Adeyemi, insisted on Monday that there was no primary election in the state.

Adeyemi claimed that the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, influenced the primary election in favor of Ahmed Usman Ododo, a former Auditor General for Local Governments in the state.

Speaking on Arise Television, the Kogi West Senator said electoral materials were shared with local government chairmen in the state who privately rigged the election to favor Ododo.

According to Bello, “There was no voting; we were at our unit, and there was no voting. They took materials from Abuja and went to their closet to thump print. INEC and its officials were not present.

“We were at our various wards talking to each other only to hear the announcement of results at about 2 p.m.

“Ododo is the cousin brother of Yahaya Bello; there was no election. In my district, three of us bought the form, and 24 hours before the election, two others were asked to step down.

“When the result was announced, Bello was seated there with no other aspirant other than Ododo." This is the worst form of rigging; I never believed this kind of thing could happen in Nigeria in 2023.

“APC will have to decide if they want a candidate for the next election.

“The governor of a state is the leader of a party in that state, so he can’t run away from this.”