PDP gov primaries: Agbaje floors Obanikoro DECEMBER 9, 2014 BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS 55 Comments Agbaje and Obanikoro • Maku, Wogu lose • Ribadu, Wike, Folarin win Barely four months after joining the Peoples Democratic Party, a pharmacist and an entrepreneur, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, on Monday emerged as the PDP governorship candidate for Lagos State. He defeated a former Minister of State for Defence and Nigeria’s ex-High Commissioner to Ghana, Musiliu Obanikoro,who was touted as the leading contestant in the primary. Agbaje scored 432 votes as against the 346 by Obanikoro. The other aspirants, Babatunde Gbadamosi got 21 votes; Tokunbo Kamson, 46 votes and Adedeji Doherty, 21 votes. The exercise was nearly marred by violence following a controversy which surrounded the number of votes cast by the delegates. When the voting started, the Chairman of the electoral committee, Senator Shehu Kumo, announced that there were 806 delegates. But when votes were being sorted, it was discovered that the number of votes cast were 863. All efforts to get the number of votes and the number of delegates to tally proved abortive but Kumo insisted that the exercise should continue. Amid the resistance by supporters of some of the aspirants, about 60 armed policemen formed a barricade around the ballot boxes and ensured that the counting continued. When tables and chairs were overturned at the centre, Obanikoro immediately stormed out. Immediately after the announcement, Agbaje commended the committee and promised to work with other aspirants. As the tension heightened, about 200 policemen and operatives of the Department of State Service stormed the venue. Agbaje was whisked away before policemen began firing gunshots into the air. It was however victory galore for many of the PDP governors as most of their preferred candidates triumphed during the race in their states. But the Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngilari, had a shocker as he was beaten by a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, at the old Parade Ground, Abuja where the exercise for the state took place. There were however boycotts and protests by many aspirants in states like Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ogun and Oyo. Kaduna Before the accreditation of delegates, the Electoral Committee Chairman announced that three aspirants – Lawal Abdullahi Yakawada, Felix Hassan Hyat and John Ajei – withdrew from the race. Yero polled 970 out of the 1,072 votes to beat his only contender, Haruna Zego, who scored one vote. Abia Okezie Ikpeazu polled 487 votes to clinch the ticket while his closest rival, Uche Ogah, came second with 103 votes. The immediate past Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, came third with 33 votes. A two-time Deputy Governor of the state, Acho Nwakanma, and Friday Nwosu secured five votes each. A former Managing Director of the defunct Hallmark Bank, Marc Wabara and Okey Emuchay got three votes respectively. The state former Commissioner for Housing, Iheanacho Okezie – Orji, came last with a single vote. Nine votes cast were voided. Enugu The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Ayogu Eze, emerged as the winner of a parallel primary held at the Filbon Hotel in Enugu. Eze scored about 530 votes to defeat the other aspirants, who were absent at the event. It was gathered that the electoral panel, headed by King Asara A. Asara, initially tried to get the aspirants to participate in a unified primary, but Eze reportedly backed out following disagreements over the delegates list. Two other aspirants – Chinedu Onu and Anayo Onwuegbu – had earlier on Sunday stepped down for the PDP consensus candidate and a member of the House of Representatives, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. But another primary supervised by an electoral panel from Abuja and attended by Governor Sullivan Chime, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and members of the the state leadership of the party, was ongoing as of press time at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Ugwuanyi is expected to emerge as the party’s flag bearer from this. Niger A former Chief of Staff to Governor Babangida Aliyu, Alhaji Umar Nasko, garnered 908 votes to clinch the party’s sole ticket. The returning officer, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye , declared Nasko winner. The Deputy Governor, Ahmed Ibeto, had 34 votes; Sahabu Darangi, 11 votes; Mustapha Bello, 11 votes; and Hanafi Sudan, 57 votes. Garba Dukku and Isah Kotangora had no votes. Senator Nuhu Aliyu withdrew on the day of the election. Delta Senator Ifeanyi Okowa was declared the winner of the primary held at the Events Centre, Asaba. Okowa scored 406 votes to beat his closest rival, Mr. David Edevbie, who scored 299 votes. The immediate-past Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Victor Ochei, came third with 185 votes. Ndudi Elumelu had 58 votes; Godsday Orubebe, 49 votes; Sylvester Ofuani, 10 votes; . Ovie Omo-Agege, 10 votes; Sam Obi, 10 votes; Clement Ofuani, seven votes; Godwill Obielum, 22 votes; Ngozi Olejeme, 11 votes; Peter Okocha, six votes; Festus Okubor, five votes; Clement Uwaka, one vote; Charles Emetulu, four votes, Kenneth Gbagi, two votes; Gabriel Oyibode, two votes; and Omene, zero vote. Tony Obuh, who was one of the leading aspirants, had withdrawn shortly before the exercise after his political godfather, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, switched loyalty to Edevbie. Oyo A former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin, emerged as the party’s candidate for Oyo State. The outcome of the primary which was conducted through the use of statutory delegates is being contested by another aspirant, Seyi Makinde, who stayed away from the venue. The statutory delegates used comprised members of the state executive and the Board of Trustees in the state, the National Assembly members elected from the state, their counterparts in the House of Assembly and five delegates from all the 33 councils in the state. A total of 211 delegates voted in the primary with Folarin having 167 votes. Former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, who also stayed away from the exercise, had two votes while a former Deputy Governor to Alao-Akala, Mr. Hazeem Gbolarumi, had 12 votes. However, Alao-Akala, who addressed his supporters in Ogbomoso while the primary was going on in Ibadan, said he was still in the race for the governorship election. He added that he would announce his next political move soon. The ex-governor said, “We cannot but experience such travail as we are going through at this time but we should be conscious of what moves we make because it’s not a personal decision; people have been involved and they shall be duly involved in making any further decision. “With your support, I am still in the race and we are going to participate and win the 2015 election by God’s grace. There is no cause to panic or worry about anything.” Makinde also protested the outcome of the primary in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu. The letter which was copied to the Presidency was signed by his lawyer, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu. Makinde warned that if the PDP decided to wave aside the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja on the suit instituted by Mr. Adelowo Aremu, which recognised delegates that were produced in the rescheduled ward congress, it (PDP) might not field a candidate for 2015 elections in the state. The letter read in part, “The terms of the said judgment are clear and unequivocal that no primary elections of PDP in Oyo State will be valid unless and except the delegates, who voted at the said primary are those who were elected at the various wards in the state during the November ward delegates congress. “The court further ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission not to accept, recognise or deal with any candidate whose nomination was derived from party primary in Oyo State based on the votes of delegates other than those elected at the ward congress as such primary stood null and void and of no effect.” Akwa Ibom Twenty members of Forum of Akwa Ibom State PDP Governorship Aspirants boycotted the primary won by immediate past Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, Mr. Udom Emmanuel. Emmanuel scored 1,201 votes while Okpolum Etteh had 38 votes and Helen Esuene , 12 votes. Effiong Abia scored four votes; Nsima Ekere, four votes; Larry Esin, two votes; Benjamin Okoko, one vote and Isangedighi Jerome, one vote. The 22 aspirants protested against the conduct of the primaries and stayed away from the venue in Uyo. Rivers A former Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, beat 23 other aspirants to emerge victorious in Port Harcourt Seventeen out of the 24 aspirants boycotted the exercise which was held under the watchful eyes of operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Service and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Wike appealed to those who lost to accept defeat in good faith and work towards the success of the party in the forth coming polls. He said, “I offer the olive branch to all combatants in the struggle to recover for the PDP and indeed all Rivers people, the stolen mandate currently in the hands of the All Progressives Congress. We shall and we should work together to recover what is rightly ours. ” Meanwhile, the Rivers Mainstream Coalition has rejected the conduct of the governorship primary in the state, describing it as a show of shame. The group, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo, urged all coalition partners to wait for its next action. Ogun The Ogun State chapter of the party allegedly ignored a directive from the National Working Committee, not to hold the exercise. The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, had in a statement on Monday, indicated that the NWC had cancelled the primary. The statement read in part, “For the avoidance of
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 05:31:32 +0000