A governorship aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party in Ogun State, Jimi Lawal, has asked the national leadership of the party to cancel the governorship primary in the state to avoid litigation.
Lawal, who wrote a petition, titled, ‘Complaint of manipulation of Ogun State PDP delegates list in the Ogun State governorship primaries’, alleged that the delegates list used during the exercise was fake.
The aspirant, however, threatened litigation if the national leadership of the party fails to investigate the allegation, cancel the primary and order another one, having discovered that the delegates list used at the primary was fake.
The party had held its governorship primary in the state on Thursday which produced a former member of the House of Representatives from Remo-North constituency, Oladipupo Adebutu, as its candidate.
A parallel primary of the party was also held the same day and produced a governorship aspirant, Segun Showunmi, making the party have two candidates in the state.
The third aspirant, Lawal, who participated in the primary that produced Adebutu stormed out shortly after the exercise commenced over the controversies on the delegates list to be used.
In the petition through his lawyers from the law office of Frank Tietie Esq, Lawal claimed that the authentic delegates list was manipulated to contain names of people that were not elected at the state ward congress.
According to him, the development led to the existence of the two lists- one that is authentic and contains the truly and correctly elected people and the other one, which he claimed was the fake list.
The petition read, “We are a firm of solicitors and barristers whose services have been retained by Otunba Jimi Adebisi Lawal, a governorship aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party in Ogun State and hereby raise the alarm on the use of a fake delegates’ list in the conduct of the May 25th governorship primaries elections of the PDP in the state.
“This use of the fake and manipulated delegates’ list was first observed during the just concluded primaries which
were held on the 21st of May 2022 to elect the party’s candidates for the State House of Assembly elections. Thus, the authentic list was manipulated to include new and unfounded names that were not elected at the State ward congress, thereby giving rise to two lists- one that is authentic and contains the truly and correctly elected delegates as against the other list that was manipulated and relied upon by the national officials of the party that conducted the primaries elections in the state.
“The concern, therefore, is that the said fake list was used in the just concluded governorship primaries which mar the whole exercise, makes it illegitimate and would be subjected to litigation if the national leadership of the party does not immediately investigate and confirm the irregularity and, nullify it.
In his request, Lawal asked the party leadership to compare the two lists and do the needful to ensure transparency and credibility of the primaries of the PDP in the state.
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