Musiliu Obanikoro, an aspirant at the Lagos
PDP gubernatorial primaries, has described
the election as a “complete sham.”
Mr. Obanikoro polled 343 votes to emerge
runners up in the ill-tempered primaries in
which Jimi Agbaje won with 432 votes.
The former Minister of State said that the
“electoral fraud” was condemnable and he
would fight the result of the polls.
Trouble started at the venue of the primaries
after Seidu Kumo, a former Senator and
chairman of the electoral committee,
announced 863 as the total votes cast.
Before delegates began voting, the committee
had announced 806 as the number of
accredited delegates.
“I still can’t comprehend how accredited
delegates of 806 rose to 867,” Mr. Obanikoro
told journalists inside his campaign office in
Lagos, midnight Tuesday.
“With the benefit of hindsight now, you could
tell it was a predetermined situation.”
Earlier, after the result was announced at the
venue of the primaries, Mr. Agbaje expressed
his satisfaction and called on other aspirants
for their support.
Violence had erupted outside the venue of the
primaries hours before voting began.
Bode George, a party chieftain and key
supporter of Mr. Agbaje, blamed Mr.
Obanikoro for using his thugs to unleash
mayhem and intimidate delegates.
But Mr. Obanikoro denied the claim, insisting
that Mr. George’s loyalists were to blame.
“Bode George brought some people to come
and create that situation but police arrested it,
but it was definitely Bode George,” Mr.
Obanikoro said.
“Did you see me there the time that the crisis
was on? It was his man, Agbalaya and others.
“As far as we are concerned, there is no
election result and the election should be
cancelled.
“The process is completely tainted and going
forward with that will lead to an outcome that
will not be beneficial to the party.”
Earlier, as counting of votes was going on,
one of the aspirants, Babatunde Gbadamosi,
kept shouting “fraud, fraud, shameless fraud”.
There was a fierce war of words inside the
venue of the primaries. Earlier, it was
announced that a total of 806 delegates would
vote. But at the end of sorting of votes, the
figure rose to 863.
Mr. Gbadamosi said that the election was
“concluded” before it even started.
“From start to finish, there was intimidation,
tear gassing of delegates.”
The head of the election committee however
said: “We have to count the votes first. Then
after we discuss this issue.
“Election has taken place. So counting must
take place. You can’t stop the counting. We
can sort it out later.”
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