According to PUNCH A former Minister of State for Defence,
Musiliu Obanikoro, has accused a leader of the Peoples Democratic Party
in Lagos State, Chief Olabode George, and the governorship candidate of
the party in the state, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, of recruiting armed thugs to
achieve their aims at the governorship primary held on December 8.
The former minister said, “I also saw the
police recovered five guns and rounds of ammunition and live cartridges
from the thugs brought by Chief Olabode George and Mr. Jimi Agbaje, a
co-aspirant.”
This is contained in an affidavit he
filed before a Federal High Court in Abuja, in support of his suit
numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/994/2014, challenging the conduct of the December 8,
2014 governorship primary in which Agbaje was declared as the winner.
Obanikoro, with 343 votes, came second
behind Agbaje who polled 432 votes to clinch the party’s ticket. Three
other candidates participated in the poll.
But the former minister is, through his
suit filed on December 15, 2014, urging the court to nullify the primary
and order a fresh one to be conducted on the grounds of alleged
electoral irregularities that marred the December 8, 2014 exercise.
On
Wednesday, the presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, following
Obanikoro’s counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), moved an ex parte
application, asked the PDP and the Independent National Electoral
Commission to appear in court on December 23.
He directed the two defendants in the
suit to appear in court to show cause why he (the judge) should not make
an order of interim injunction restraining them from presenting or
accepting any name as the PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State,
pending the determination of the suit.
The judge, on Wednesday, declined to
grant the restraining order as sought by the plaintiff’s counsel through
the ex parte application.
Rather than grant the order, Justice
Mohammed asked the plaintiff to put the defendants on notice for them to
appear in court to show cause why the order should not be granted.
The former minister alleged in his suit
filed on December 18 that the election was marred by electoral
irregularities, such as over-voting, intimidation of his delegates by
thugs loyal to George and Agbaje as well as improper accreditation of
delegates.
He said there were 806 delegates
accredited for the primaries but “surprisingly from the 806 accredited
delegates, the electoral officers returned a total number of 866 votes.”
He added that the accreditation of
delegates which ought to last between 8am and 12pm, as stipulated by the
Electoral Guidelines published by the PDP, did not start until as late
as 6.30pm.
In an affidavit personally deposed to by
him, Obanikoro stated, “That the thugs earlier brought by Chief Olabode
George and Mr. Jimi Agbaje, a co-aspirant, at this point began to
disrupt the venue by throwing bottles, stones and firing gunshots in the
direction of the delegates loyal to me and preventing other delegates
loyal to me from entering the venue.
“That the gunshots attracted another
detachment of policemen, who engaged the thugs in a gun and tear gas
battle during which many of the delegates loyal to me ran for their dear
lives to avoid being caught in the crossfire between the police and the
armed thugs.
“That I know as a fact that many of my
delegates who ran for their dear lives in the ensuing violence and gun
battle never returned and were consequently disenfranchised, as it took
the police several hours to restore some semblance of normalcy.
“That I saw that the police recovered
five guns and rounds of ammunitions and live cartridges from the thugs
brought by Chief Olabode George and Mr. Jimi Agbaje , a co-aspirant.”
Photocredit: Punch
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