Following the claim by Jimi Agbaje, winner of the controversial People’s
Democratic Party’s Lagos State governorship primary held Monday,
December 8th, that his major contender, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro,
and other aspirants and their agents were party to the agreement to
accommodate the controversial 58 votes, the latter has reacted, calling
Agbaje a pathological and unabashed liar.
In a statement signed by his Director of Media and Publicity, Felix Oboagwina,
Agbaje was quoted to have said that all the aspirants including
Obanikoro had agreed, prior to the commencement of the primary proper,
to accommodate a total number of 58 votes discovered by the Chairman
of the Electoral Committee, Senator Seidu Kumo, to have been
inadvertently omitted. The omitted votes, Agbaje claimed, were those
of statutory and ad hoc delegates from Ikeja, Ojo, Mushin and Alimosho
Local Government Areas.
However, Obanikoro, who has flayed the conduct of the primary election,
said in a statement made available to the media Wednesday evening,
“It is indecent and unimaginable that Agbaje, despite his gentlemanly disposition,
can now wake up, three days after the primary, to say that I was a party to the
agreement to accommodate the 58 mysterious votes. This is the height of
murderous desperation and inordinate ambition. Let it be on record that I,
Musiliu Obanikoro, did not know of the 58 votes until at the point of collation.
The electoral committee had certified 806 delegates and so you imagine
everybody’s shock and surprise when the total number of votes cast rose to 864.
So, at what point did I or other aspirants agree to include another 58?”
The former Minister of State for Defence said that Agbaje and his ‘whining cheerleaders
like Bode George and Adeseye Ogunlewe’ were only playing to the gallery, taking
Lagosians for a ride and toying with the fortunes of the party in Lagos. “I have said it
immediately after the primary that the whole election was a sham. I still cannot comprehend
how accredited delegates of 806 will turn out to be 864. This is brazen illegality and
we intend to fight it to the end. There is an opportunity to appeal and I hope the party
will do the right thing.”
Obanikoro stated that if Agbaje had emerged winner in a free and fair
contest, where the will of the vast majority of the delegates had been allowed
to prevail, he would not have had any issues congratulating or lending his
expansive political structure to ensure the party won the governorship election
in February 2015. But, he said, “I cannot condone this illegality.
We cannot subject the future of our children to the whims and
caprices of these two individuals (George and Ogunseye).”
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