Reactions have continued to trail yesterday's Lagos state Guber primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) held at Oregun ikeja, venue in Lagos, which saw the emergence of Pharmacist Jimi Agbaje as the flag bearer of the PDP for the 2015 governorship elections in Lagos State.
While some describe the event as a charad some say its frudulent and a sham while others hale the leadership of the party for what those who oppose the outcome refer to as anointing Jimi Agbaje to fly the party's flag.
One of such people that have unresevingly expressed disappointment in the result and the conduct of the entire exercise is one of the Governorship hopefuls Babatunde Olalere Gbadamosi who made his grievance known to GROOVE PLUS+ and 'Democracy Today' during an interview with Marshall Ononye.
Chronicling the initial violent that heralded the primaries Gbadamosi said, "it was like a war front with gun shots heard from afar as I arrived the venue. It was at that point that My supporters insisted I wear a bullet proof vest as the hoodlums who were creating the scene at the venue in support of some apirants were also threatening to take down other aspirants that were not in thier good books. "
Voting began behind schedule, starting with late take-off of accreditation of delegates, as gates were not opened for delegates and journalists until around 4.00 p.m.
He also spoke on the irregularities that trailed the electioneering process and how delegates were influenced by certain members of the party.
The hieght of the protests followed a
difference in the number of delegates that voted and the number of
votes cast.
The Chairman of the PDP Governorship Committee for Lagos State,
Senator Umar Kumo, announced 863 as the number of votes cast as
against 806 delegates that voted, sparking protests.
The police had to fire several canisters of tear gas, resulting in stampede, while delegates, journalists, among others, who were refused access were made to stand at the gate for several hours where the primaries was holding had to scamper to safety in different directions.
The PDP six aspirants jostling for the governorship slot included former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Mr Babatunde Gbadamosi, Mr Jimi Agbaje, Dr Deji Doherty, Mr Tokunbo Kamson and Mrs Modupe Chukwuemeka.
Armed with certain fact and evidences BOG said he would first appeal for a rerun of the primaries and if that doesn't transcend to a favorable outcome he would need to take a different approach to the matter.
In all of these there are indications that some of the aggrieved party members and former aspirants for the party's Guber ticket have fingered the party’s Elders’ Council as headed by Chief Olabode George and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe as being behind all of this. It would be recalled that the the party’s Elders’ Council in an earlier interview had made insinuations to hand pick Jimi Agbaje giving what they referred to as his professional background. According to him, the PDP would not by anyway go lower to pick
anybody who possessed qualities lower than Fashola’s.
Referring to the party's resolve to pick Jimi Agbaje as against Musiliu Obanikoro or any other aspirant the PDP Elders’ Council, Lagos State said
Obanikoro was not electable.
Ogunlewe, who addressed newsmen on Saturday night, at the
Ikoyi residence of Chief George, noted that the group and
Lagosians were quite familiar with the image of Obanikoro, as
well as his records, declaring that “never again; we will never
again return to Babylon".
The former minister vowed that Senator Obanikoro would
not be picked by delegates at the PDP governorship primaries
to fly the party’s flag in the 2015 poll.
In his words: “We will never pick him, we will never return to
Babylon. We will never,
never, never pick him. I have answered you, we will never return to Babylon, never. We will not vote for him, never. The leadership has agreed."
Since after the primaries the social media has been flooded with reactions from the public. Most of them dismayed by the outcome of events that characterised the election while some others hale the outcome calling on the aggrieved parties to team up with Jimi to work towards ousting the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) that has held on to power in the state for over 15 years.
It is not looking like the coast is completely cleared as we anticipate to see a fall out from yesterday's primaries.
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