.jpg)
Lagos state governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has challenged fellow aspirant, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, to speak the truth about the so-called excess votes reportedly recorded in Monday’s primaries.
He also told the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) not to play holier-than-thou over the PDP controversy.
According to a statement by Felix Oboagwina, Director of Media and Publicity for Mr. Jimi Agbaje, in the course of the primaries, the six aspirants agreed that there was a clerical omission in the originally announced tally of 806, as it had left out some ad hoc and statutory delegates from a few local governments, and those should be reckoned and allowed to vote.
Earlier placed at 806 delegates, the total figure for voting delegates finally came to 864 after votes were cast.
“Obanikoro and the other aspirants, together with their agents, were party to this agreement,” Oboagwina said. “In fact, Obanikoro left his seat, along with the others, when the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Senator Seidu Kumo, called attention to the clerical omission. There and then, they mandated the committee to add these omitted delegates to the total tally. The Chairman of the Committee felt no need to announce this new figure publicly, since all the contestants willingly endorsed the arrangement.”
It described the Lagos PDP primary election as free, fair and spotless.
According to the Press Statement, the total of 58 omitted delegates was made up of:
Ikeja Ad Hoc Delegates -30
Ikeja Statutory Delegates -7
Ojo Statutory Delegates -7
Mushin Statutory Delegates -7
Alimosho Statutory Delegates -7
The statement said: “The agents and aspirants were previously informed of the clerical omission. And it is the height of mischief, indecency and dishonesty for anyone to falsely cry WOLF to something that everybody mutually agreed to.”
Party to this agreement were agents of the aspirants, as well as the contestants themselves, including: Mrs Modupe Chukwuneke, Mr Babatunde Gbadamosi, Mr Tokunboh Kamson, Mr Adedeji Doherty, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and Mr Olujimi Agbaje.
Expressing disappointment with other aspirants who resorted to crying foul upon the declaration of the result, it condemned the voices as a reflection of the problem of Nigerian leadership, peopled by desperadoes playing do-or-die politics.
“Let us even assume (for the sake of argument) that you subtract the allegedly 60 excess votes from the total tally, Agbaje would still win the primaries,” the statement pointed out. “But for all intents and purposes, the excess votes could even have gone to make up the 342 scored by Obanikoro or the total for the other aspirant.”
Also responding to a statement by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Joe Igbokwe, that it would not be congratulating Agbaje because of the controversy, the statement asked the rival party to puts it house in order before meddling into the business of others.
“We had wondered why neither the APC Candidate nor the party had deemed it fit to congratulate Agbaje in line with the finest tenets of democracy. But it is now clear that they were in shock at the emergence of a credible and powerful candidate for PDP in Lagos State,” Oboagwina said.
It said: “APC lacks the moral standing to point fingers because its own primaries had glaring flaws. For example, APC only released the delegates list on the day of the primaries, while PDP released its delegates list a week before the first primaries and two weeks before the governorship primaries. Also, APC’s candidate came through imposition, the method it has always used from time immemorial.
“APC has hinged its history on the imposition of candidates. And, in keeping with this undemocratic tradition, APC ensured its Governorship Candidate emerged strictly through imposition.”
It urged the PDP National Executive to ignore calls by a few disgruntled politicians for the primaries to be cancelled and a new one organised, pointing out that this was the antics of bad losers.
As a check and to prevent possible abuse, the electoral officers from the PDP headquarters had ensured that during voting, the agents of the aspirants individually verified each erstwhile omitted delegate before he was given a ballot paper for voting.
It recalled that everyone recognised that these duly elected and statutory delegates would have been unjustly disenfranchised through no fault of theirs.
Oboagwina also doused allegations being peddled by one aspirant that his camp had pegged its campaign on religion.
“Our camp did not play, has not played and will never play the religious card. It is not in our character. The Agbaje family, with its ancestral root in the Onilegbale family in Ikorodu, has a healthy mix of the dominant faiths. Also, key figures in the Agbaje campaign, such as Chief Bode Oyedele and Alhaji Rahman Owokoniran, are Moslems.”
Source: Vanguard
