MORE SHOCKING RESULT IN PDP PRIMARIES: Barely four months after joining the Peoples Democratic Party, a pharmacist and an entrepreneur, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, on Monday emerged as the PDP governorship candidate for Lagos State. He defeated a former Minister of State for Defence and Nigeria’s ex-High Commissioner to Ghana, Musiliu Obanikoro,who was touted as the leading contestant in the primary. Agbaje scored 432 votes as against the 346 by Obanikoro. The other aspirants, Babatunde Gbadamosi got 21 votes; Tokunbo Kamson, 46 votes and Adedeji Doherty, 21 votes. The exercise was nearly marred by violence following a controversy which surrounded the number of votes cast by the delegates. When the voting started, the Chairman of the electoral committee, Senator Shehu Kumo, announced that there were 806 delegates. But when votes were being sorted, it was discovered that the number of votes cast were 863. All efforts to get the number of votes and the number of delegates to tally proved abortive but Kumo insisted that the exercise should continue. Amid the resistance by supporters of some of the aspirants, about 60 armed policemen formed a barricade around the ballot boxes and ensured that the counting continued. When tables and chairs were overturned at the centre, Obanikoro immediately stormed out. Immediately after the announcement, Agbaje commended the committee and promised to work with other aspirants. As the tension heightened, about 200 policemen and operatives of the Department of State Service stormed the venue. Agbaje was whisked away before policemen began firing gunshots into the air. It was however victory galore for many of the PDP governors as most of their preferred candidates triumphed during the race in their states. But the Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngilari, had a shocker as he was beaten by a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, at the old Parade Ground, Abuja where the exercise for the state took place. There were however boycotts and protests by many aspirants in states like Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ogun and Oyo. Kaduna Before the accreditation of delegates, the Electoral Committee Chairman announced that three aspirants – Lawal Abdullahi Yakawada, Felix Hassan Hyat and John Ajei – withdrew from the race. Yero polled 970 out of the 1,072 votes to beat his only contender, Haruna Zego, who scored one vote. Abia Okezie Ikpeazu polled 487 votes to clinch the ticket while his closest rival, Uche Ogah, came second with 103 votes. The immediate past Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, came third with 33 votes. A two-time Deputy Governor of the state, Acho Nwakanma, and Friday Nwosu secured five votes each. A former Managing Director of the defunct Hallmark Bank, Marc Wabara and Okey Emuchay got three votes respectively. The state former Commissioner for Housing, Iheanacho Okezie – Orji, came last with a single vote. Nine votes cast were voided. Enugu The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Ayogu Eze, emerged as the winner of a parallel primary held at the Filbon Hotel in Enugu. Eze scored about 530 votes to defeat the other aspirants, who were absent at the event. It was gathered that the electoral panel, headed by King Asara A. Asara, initially tried to get the aspirants to participate in a unified primary, but Eze reportedly backed out following disagreements over the delegates list. Two other aspirants – Chinedu Onu and Anayo Onwuegbu – had earlier on Sunday stepped down for the PDP consensus candidate and a member of the House of Representatives, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. But another primary supervised by an electoral panel from Abuja and attended by Governor Sullivan Chime, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and members of the the state leadership of the party, was ongoing as of press time at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Ugwuanyi is expected to emerge as the party’s flag bearer from this. Niger A former Chief of Staff to Governor Babangida Aliyu, Alhaji Umar Nasko, garnered 908 votes to clinch the party’s sole ticket. The returning officer, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye , declared Nasko winner. The Deputy Governor, Ahmed Ibeto, had 34 votes; Sahabu Darangi, 11 votes; Mustapha Bello, 11 votes; and Hanafi Sudan, 57 votes. Garba Dukku and Isah Kotangora had no votes. Senator Nuhu Aliyu withdrew on the day of the election.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 05:00:28 +0000
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