Some candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2015 general election, under the auspices of Ondo State PDP Candidates Forum, have cautioned Governor Olusegun Mimiko against tampering with the list of candidates who emerged victorious in the last primaries conducted in the state. Hon Femi Adekanbi, coordinator of the forum, who spoke on behalf of the candidates in Abuja yesterday, said they have uncovered moves to illegally substitute the list of the candidates, alleging that the state governor, Olusegun Mimiko had frequented the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a manner that suggested that the plan was actually being perfected. Adekanbi who is one of the House of Representatives candidates in the state, said the moves were contrary to the constitution of the party and the Electoral Act, adding that the governor’s continual presence at INEC Headquarters might influence the electoral body. He accused the governor of failing to work to peacefully integrate himself into the party and its structures which he met on ground when he recently defected to the PDP. He expressed sadness over alleged moves to damage the character of the PDP chieftain in the state, Chief Jimoh Ibrahim by some aggrieved aspirants, and noted that Ibrahim is committed to ensuring that President Goodluck Jonathan wins convincingly in the state at the presidential poll. Adekanbi insisted that all his colleagues are committed to fighting unjust system and cautioned that the party remains different from the other parties where defectors defected from. He said, “Mimiko has made INEC office practically his office. We are not fighting Mimiko, leader of the party in the state. What we are fighting is system of how we do things in PDP. We believe in INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega to do justice and that 2015 will witness peaceful and fair poll. “We want to caution that Mimiko can never solely win Ondo for President Goodluck Jonathan. Salary has not been paid for three months in Ondo and the governor cannot walk freely on the streets of Ondo. Is he the person to deliver votes for Jonathan? Mimiko never believed in calling every stakeholder to a roundtable “No inducement of INEC and PDP can be allowed to stand. For somebody going around in Ondo and sleeping in INEC, that is unfortunate. We are waiting for the names of the candidates of Mimiko to be published by INEC and which we believe INEC won’t do. If it does that, then it means we are not ready for democracy and that could be the beginning of end of democracy in Nigeria when we cannot respect the judiciary,” he said. Also speaking, another candidate of the state PDP, Hon. Adegunloye Adeusi noted that the state governor should have studied the constitution of the PDP totally before joining its fold, that if he had done that, the governor would not have found himself in the alleged mess he is into He said, “We want to challenge Mimiko to disclose that he had parallel primaries. He cannot say it except in beer parlour secretariat and not in public because that would mean running foul of the court judgment.” Meanwhile, the INEC failed to respond to the issues raised by the candidates as at the time of filing this report. A text message sent to the Chief Press Secretary to the commission’s chairman, Kayode Idowu was not replied.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 08:51:18 +0000