Protests, Defection Trail PDP Guber Primaries By Our Correspondents — Dec 10, 2014 | Leave a comment PDP governorship primary cancelled in Kebbi …Allegations not weighty enough to warrant cancellation – Ka’oje The Electoral Committee chairman for the Kebbi State PDP governorship primary election, Sir Celestine Omeiha, announced the cancellation of the election midway into the primaries for the governorship yesterday. Earlier, the primaries started with a mild drama when the Race Course venue for the accreditation of delegates was speculated to have turned to voting centre, a development which caused confusion in the state capital, as some supporters of one of the aspirants, General Sarkin Yaki Bello, started celebrating. The voting exercise started around 5pm with Kebbi South delegates but trouble started when it was the turn of Zuru local government delegates to vote. When the state governor, Saidu Dakingari, was called to vote, other aspirants, with the exception of General Bello, all protested against what they called substitution of a genuine delegates list with a fake one, thereby calling for the discontinuation of voting. The electoral committee chairman, after some consultations, announced the postponement of the exercise till further notice. Omehia said: “After making some observations, I noticed the list from Abuja has different names from what the party in Kebbi gave. The problem is beyond my power. A new date from Abuja will be fixed for another election.” Twelve aspirants are contesting the PDP governorship ticket in the state which include Sani Umar Kalgo, General Bello (rtd), Saidu Sambawa (rtd) General Mohammadu Magoro, Zubairu Turaki, General Mohammed Dan Hanne (rtd), Musa Zagi, Abubakar Tafida, Ibrahim Aliyu, M.A. Gulma, and Mansur Shehu Waziri. Meanwhile, a former minister of sports, Hon Bala Bawa Ka’oje, who is also the state committee chairman for the conduct of PDP guber primaries, has reacted to the development, saying the situation was insufficient to warrant the cancellation of the election. He blamed the electoral officials from Abuja for the stalemate. According to him, the officials sent to handle the elections from the PDP national headquarters did not have the capacity to handle primaries. Ka’oje spoke in Birnin Kebbi yesterday while fielding questions from some selected journalists some hours after the cancellation of the primaries. “I have always thought that the party at the top will show good leadership by sending the right people to conduct the primary elections by allowing also the free will of people to produce right candidate so that it will be easy for PDP to win the general election, but things turned out to be different,” Ka’oje said. Lagos PDP guber primaries, a sham – Obanikoro * Still challenges suit against eligibility The PDP governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has called for the cancellation of the state governorship primaries, describing it as a sham. At the governorship primaries, Jimi Agbaje polled 432 votes to defeat Obanikoro, who scored 343 votes, while Adedeji Doherty and Babatunde Olalere Gbadamosi polled 21 votes respectively. Addressing newsmen at his GRA office shortly after the primaries, Obanikoro said: “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. “My immediate reaction is that the election was a sham. I still cannot comprehend how accredited delegates of 806, will turn out to be 868. To be honest with you, you can tell that it was a predetermined exercise. People like us are not in this democracy for the sake of it; we are in it to ensure that the right things are done so that the country can be on the right path. We intend to fight this; there is an opportunity for an appeal and we will appeal and we hope the party will do the right thing,” he said. He accused a party chieftain, Chief Bode George, of being responsible for the alleged confusion within the Lagos PDP. Meanwhile, despite his defeat at Monday’s PDP governorship primaries, Obanikoro yesterday asked a Lagos High Court in Ikeja to dismiss a suit challenging his eligibility to contest the primaries and any other future elections. Obanikoro, in a preliminary objection filed against the suit instituted by three chieftains of party, maintained that since the case against him is premised on forgery and dual citizenship, and since there is no evidence of his trial or conviction for the alleged offences, the case ought to be dismissed. Micheal Babatunde Ogun, Suleiman Olayinka Saheed and Wasiu Adeniyi Odusan had gone before the court seeking an order of interlocutory injunction restraining Obanikoro from participating in the just concluded December 8, 2014 primaries. Makinde rejects Oyo governorship primary result One of the leading governorship aspirants of the PDP in Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, yesterday rejected the results of the governorship primary, which was won by the former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin. Addressing newsmen in Ibadan, Makinde described the exercise as a sham, saying it negated the PDP Electoral Guidelines and the Electoral Act, as amended. He added that the conduct of the PDP gubernatorial primary contravened an Abuja High Court judgment delivered on December 5, 2014, which ruled that only elected ward delegates were eligible to participate in the party’s primary. “PDP is a law abiding party and I know that President Goodluck Jonathan will not lend his name to what happened in Oyo PDP. I cannot be part of lawlessness; the rule of law must be upheld. “There is no room for PDP to manoeuvre. What happened yesterday (Monday) is an indication that the party is yet to elect a candidate for the governorship election,” Makinde said. Katsina: Defeated PDP guber aspirant, Tata, joins APGA In the aftermath of the controversial PDP governorship primaries in Katsina State, one of the aggrieved aspirants, Abdullahi Umar Tsauri, popularly known as Tata, has dumped the party for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Tata had polled two votes according to the result of the PDP governorship primary declared by the panel chairman, Muazu Abubakar, amidst a walkout by eight aspirants, including Tata. Few hours after the declaration of the result, the social media was awash with reports of Tata’s planned defection to either the APGA or Labour Party. However, Tata confirmed to our correspondent that he had dumped the ruling PDP for the APGA, a party with very little presence in Katsina State. Tata, who spoke through his media aide, Muhammad Lawal, said he was joining APGA with no fewer than 300,000 of his supporters. When contacted for comments, the state PDP chairman, Rabi’u Gambo Bakori simply said: “It is a voluntary association and you can’t stop someone from leaving if he wants to.”
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 06:33:41 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015