Erstwhile Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, yesterday dragged the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) before a Federal High court in Abuja over the controversial conduct of the Lagos
State governorship primary which saw Mr. Jimi Agbaje emerge as the winner.
Obanikoro said the move had become imperative as
the PDP had failed to act on his petition in which he
complained about the anomalies of the primary.
Obanikoro said this yesterday at a press
conference held at campaign office in Lagos.
The former minister said he could not comprehend
how the number of accredited delegates (806) could
exceed the number of votes (863).
According to him, the 48 hours timeline stipulated by
the PDP Electoral Guideline to address the appeal
had elapsed without a response from the party.
He said in the light of the development, only the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
and a court could compel the party to conduct a fresh primary.
His words: “We must stand by the truth and the truth is that the election of Monday must be cancelled and repeated. We turned in our petition on
Tuesday thinking that yesterday (Thursday) the party would reply according to its guidelines but
they have not responded as we speak.”
Continuing, Obanikoro said “when I noticed that they
did not respond, we went to a Federal High court
and sued the party.
I stand for a greater Lagos and anything that will
derail that journey will be fought with every drop of
our blood.”
He, however, took a swipe at Chief Bode George
and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, who he accused of
manipulating the process to favour Jimi Agbaje.
Said he “Chief Olabode George thinks that he could
just bark and people like us would sit down but I
think by now, he would have got the message and
we will stand shoulder to shoulder.
This is not about
age because if you want to be respected, you must
respect yourself.”
Speaking further, he said “we told him at the
beginning that if he wants to be the unifier and the
umpire, you have to be above board but him and
Ogunlewe did not do that, they became the director
general and deputy director general of Agbaje
campaign organisation. Bode George turned his
office in Lugard to Agbaje’s campaign secretariat.”
source: vanguard
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