Kunle Adelabu
-Aspirants rumoured as consensus candidates
-Impersonations characterize exercise
he rescheduled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary elections to elect candidates for the State Assembly seats and the sole House of Representatives seat, again, failed to hold on Monday, May 23, 2022.
The elections earlier scheduled for Sunday, May 22, 2022, were unable to hold because party electoral officers and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not show up.
Unfortunately, it was same situation on Monday, at the Ikorodu Club venue for the Constituency I State Assembly and House of Representatives primaries and Admos Hotel, Imota, the venue for the Constituency II State Assembly primary, as the elections could not hold.
Many of the aspirants, delegates and party members went home disappointed after they were told that the elections would not hold again.
While some of the aspirants were seen together, it was gathered that they were trying to form an alliance to present single aspirant for the House of Representatives and Assembly positions for the primary elections.
THE IMPACT also gathered that the State Chapter of the party may have picked some aspirants as candidates for the two Assembly seats and sole House of Representative seats in Ikorodu.
It was gathered that the leadership of the party in the state favoured AbdulAzeez Adekunle Awesu as candidate for the House of Representatives, while Olalekan Olamide Lawal and Adewale Isiaka Oyebo were said to have been picked as candidates for the Constituency I and II Assembly seats.
On the other hand, some are saying that those favoured are AbdulKareem Olugbenga Shittu and Balogun Rotimi Olatubosun for the House of Representatives and Constituency I Assembly seats respectively.
From all indications, the fight for the party’s ticket for the Ikorodu Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives is between Awesu and Shittu.
Meanwhile, incidents of impersonations were witnessed on the two days the elections were unable to hold. On Sunday, a man who confidently gained entry into the election venue with claim that he was sent from the PDP national secretariat in Abuja, was later discovered to an impersonator after he was drilled by the SSS team.
Again, on Monday, another two persons were caught trying to impersonate. One of them, who said that he was Solomon Adeniyi from Lagos Island, claimed that he and his accomplice were from the state secretariat of the party and also presented a signed document to backed up their claims, but when the party officials and an aspirant in Ikorodu contacted the state leaders, they were told that they did not send any official to monitor the election.
While the SSS team was interrogating the suspects, some members of the PDP barged into the hall with armed officers to whisked them away. Our reporter later find out that the excos of the party were unaware of the suspects whereabouts or the station that they were taken to.
It was also alleged that the whisking away of the suspects by some party men with the aid of policemen was a ploy to take them away from the venue and later freed.
Dr Oshin Olanrewaju, Chairman, PDP Ikorodu Local Government, speaking with THE IMPACT, said that there was no election in his council and that the party in Ikorodu is waiting for further directives from the state chapter.
“Yes, there was no election yesterday and today in Ikorodu, we just have to be calm and wait for directives. There was no election in Ikorodu and we are still waiting for the party’s directive but till now, the State Chairman has not passed any information across ”, he said.
He alleged that there was an attempt by the state leadership to impose a particular aspirant on Ikorodu.
“There is particularly aspirant that they are trying to promote and impose on us which we don’t want to accept. That is where the problem is from. Their main fear from the state is that if we go into the contest, he (their aspirant) may lose because Ikorodu people want to decide who they want in the position and that person must be pure lkorodu indigene. That is what we are protecting”, Engr. Oshin alleged.
“We know those that are real lkorodu indigenes because we are in the same party and we know the leading aspirant who is an indigene of Ikorodu Kingdom.
“We want to appeal to all the aspirants and party members to be calm and let peace reign. They should be hopeful for better things to come out of this situation”, the Chairman appealed.
Mr Shittu AbdulKareem Olugbenga, an aspirant for the House of Representatives who was disappointed that the primary election was again unable to hold for the second time, said that he is positive that the he will be victorious whenever the election is held.
“We all came very prepared and ready for the election yesterday, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to proceed. Again, we have come here today with a view of participating in an election but there seem to still be some issues to be resolved with our national or state party”, he said.
“We are patiently waiting for the directive from the state. We remain very positive and confident that whenever the election is going to be held, we shall be victorious”.
While confirming that there has been agitation for an indigene to be given the House of Representatives ticket, Shittu said that he is not aware of any imposition.
“I am not aware of any aspirant being imposed on us. I know that there has been an agitation for Ikorodu indigene to be given the ticket as an indigenous local government in the state where indigenes are usually considered for such position. That is all I am aware of.
“We aree all here ready for a free and fair election. The stage was set but unfortunately, like I said before, may be the leadership of the party in the state is still having some bottlenecks which has not allowed the election to proceed as earlier scheduled.
“We are hopeful that it will proceed at some point”.
He said his supporters and party members are determined to give them quality representation while also charging his co – aspirants not to take their aspirations as do or die affairs.
“My message to my supporters and entire party members is that we are resolute in our quest to represent this federal constituency; to bring quality representation to our people”, he said.
“To other aspirants, my message is that politics shouldn’t be a do or die affairs and since we are seeking to serve the people, we shouldn’t kill ourselves in a bid to serve them. Let’s play by the rules and may the best man wins”.
