Agency Report
The Secretary of the electoral committee for the Lagos chapter congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Abiodun Olujimi, has said “bad losers” disrupted the elective congress on Saturday.
The opposition party’s state congress became inconclusive following disagreement on the delegates’ list for accreditation.
Ms Olujimi, seconded from Ekiti by the PDP to conduct the elections, explained that the plans had been set to go on with elections since a consensus could not be reached the night before.
She however said it became “clear that some people don’t want this process to go on” after noticing that defeat was staring them in the face.
“Some want it truncated and it is also very clear that others want to vote so there is a clash of interests.
“We must go, although all through Friday we tried to resolve it but we couldn’t; if not we would have just come to read out the list.
“People are bad losers; when they lose they find it difficult to accept and that was why we tried to reconcile and see if there could be consensus,” she said.
In a similar vein, Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, a chairmanship candidate, says the party’s congress was disrupted because of a “Unity’’ list.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday, Mr Pearse said: “The list had one Dr Fawole as the preferred candidate for Lagos State PDP Chairman, excluding popular candidates.
“Delegates became alarmed when they saw people using the list to fill their ballot papers and felt that the result of the congress had been pre-determined by the preferred list.’’
According to him, the apparent compromise of fair and open election led to protest and a mass walkout by delegates.
“For me this is the end of the line. I will no longer stand aside and watch any leader disenfranchise me and other members of the party,’’ he stated.
Meanwhile, outgoing PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr Taofik Gani, in a statement on Sunday in Lagos blamed the aborted congress on gunshots at the congress venue by hoodlums.
“The chairman of the committee had started giving out ballot papers to the delegates to start voting when suddenly gunshots were heard from different angles.
“The delegates were orderly until after the gunshots which scared a lot of people to leave the venue. We do not believe these gunshots came from PDP members.
“The shooters can only be our political opponents. We charge the police to fish out these persons,’’ the spokesman said.
Mr Gani said that the Lagos PDP State Congress Electoral Committee had gone ahead to declare the congress as aborted and a new date would be announced.
Messrs Philips Aivoji, Niyi Adams, Hakeem Amode, Amos Fawole and Pearse are vying for the chairmanship position.
(NAN)
