Chairman of National Working Committee of Governorship Primary of the party, Clement Ebiri and state chairman of APC, Alhaji Babatunde Balogun, maintained this separate position on Tuesday while speaking with newsmen about the governorship primary which to place across the 245 wards in the state to pick the party’s governorship candidate for the 2019 General Elections.
The incumbent, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode and former Commissioner for Establishment, Pensions and Training, Mr Babajide Sanwoolu were the only two aspirants in the race as the third one, Dr Feminine Hamzat had announced his withdrawal last Saturday, asking his supporters to vote for Sanwoolu in Tuesday’s exercise.
Reports from the fields obtained by our correspondents showed that Sanwoolu was far in early lead before the Ebiri committee announced cancellation of the exercise.
Addressing a press conference at Ikeja, Ebiri declared that there was no election held across the state to pick the APC governorship candidate, contending that the exercise said to have taken place did not follow the laid down rules and regulations in line with the party’s guidelines.
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“There was no election today,” he declared, saying that processes that ought to have been followed to ensure the credibility of the exercise had just arrived a few moments back.
This he said was because the needed materials and information to ensure such were only made available to his committee just an hour ago by the chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Balogun and representatives of the two governorship aspirants, pointing out that the committee was trying to be careful and methodical with the process in order to achieve peace in Lagos as flagship which he said was more than victory.
“Due to the political tension in the state, we have decided to be very careful and methodical with the process. As party men, peace is more important to us than victory.
“We are interested in the process that will be celebrated by both parties. And that is what we have done. We are ready to go to the field and execute this. And we aim to do it in a clinical version because Lagos is very important to us and it is the flagship for the party,” he said.
On the next step to be taken, Ebiri said: “ln the next few minutes, I will contact the national headquarters and inform them that we are done with the preparatory process. It takes a lot of work for the main show to take place.
“We are ready to give the state the most credible election. We will contact the national headquarters on the timing for the release of materials. It is not our fault that this exercise took this long. In some states, primaries were moved to Thursday.
“We were waiting for the party chairman to provide certain information that will enable us post people to the wards. We have two aspirants and we needed to be fair to both parties. The information we demanded for came in about an hour ago. And we had to struggle this period to balance the equation.
“Now that we are ready, we will contact the national headquarters on the situation and the right time would be announced.
“We have five persons from the local organising committee and four for each ward. They will all go out to ensure the primary is conducted. We all understand the terrain in the state especially as it concerns the traffic situation. So, the materials are available now and ready for deployment.”
Speaking further, the committee chairman said it was in national headquarters of APC wisdom to use the ballot papers in the exercise but the state chapter of the party was not ready for that approach.
“The national secretariat advised us to use ballot papers and we came into Lagos with thousands of them. But during the stakeholders meeting, it became obvious that the state chapter of the party wasn’t ready for such primary. They claimed that there was no time to educate the members and others. And based on the submission made at the stakeholders meeting, some changes were made.
“And we were advised to conduct the open ballot in a manner that would be objective to all parties. And that is one of the adjustments we made to accommodate views of the stakeholders. For us, the stage is set and the primary should commence any moment from now,” he said.
Addressing newsmen earlier, the chairman of APC in the state, Alhaji Balogun said the primary took place simultaneously in all the 245 wards across Lagos and was witnessed by the INEC and observers, declaring party members were seen visibly participating in the exercise
“For example our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was at Ikeja, his own ward.
“He took part in the election and we saw the results. The results have been signed by the agents of the two aspirants.
“Those results were credible because the INEC too were there and they all signed off. We were all witnesses to the conduct of the election. There was no violence, no chaos, it was free, fair and transparent. That’s what I am saying,” Balogun said.
Asked whether any member of the NWC panel members were there, he said: ‘”What I know is that I did not go round the wards. The venue I went to I saw some observers apart from the agents and INEC. They were publicity conducted, constitutionally done and I think we will leave the rest for the people and the press.”
“That is why we have to wait for the committee charged with the responsibility to announce the results. We are not to announce the results,” he added.
Balogun described the poll as seamless and free of violence, saying he was highly satisfied with the conduct.
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