The State congress of the Lagos State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was disrupted as the exercise could not proceed further from the accreditation level which had been done for 18 out of the 20 local governments in the state, following some gunshots that rocked venue of the congress.
Deputy Chairman of the Congress Organizing Committee from the party headquarters in Abuja, in charge of the exercise, Mrs. Abiodun Olujimi, had told newsmen that the body had so far did accreditation of delegates in the affected local governments, assuring that her committee would ensure a free and fair exercise.
The congress came to an abrupt end, as gun shots were fired outside the Tafawa Balewa Square, venue of the exercise, leading to the delegates who had seated waiting for the congress to commence taken their leave in droves.
The development brought some confusion as some of the delegates still accosted within the premises were seen holding a list, claiming that the Congress had since been concluded, with Dr. Amos Fawole, named as the chairman, Barr. Wale Onileere as deputy chairman, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour as secretary, among others.
According to them, the new officers had emerged through a census arrangement.
But former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Chief Olabode George, earlier on arriving the venue of the Congress, had advised the national electoral committee to postpone the congress over lack time, saying it would be dangerous for the delegates and observers if the congress exceeded 6 pm.
This was as George, who is also member of Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, noted that there was security breaches already, saying there were a lot of people at the venue who were not delegates or participants.
“I would advise that they would have to watch their time. Unfortunately, there is security breakdown already because there are a lot of people here who are not going to participate, some of them are observers and they should have been directed to sit outside.
“But having said that, what we want is that it has to be a carnival and you can see everybody is just moving around and dancing.
“But when it gets dark, the most sensible thing would be to pospond it till the end of the National Convention. You cannot do it in the night here because this is Lagos especially around this area, once it is nightfall no one can guarantee what will happen,” he said.
Speaking with newsmen earlier, Olujimi, also a former deputy governor of Ekiti State, while disclosing that accreditation of delegates had already been done to cover 18 out of 20 council areas in the state, noted that it was apparent that some people did not want this process to go on.
According to her, it was clear that some people want it truncated, saying it was also obvious that some people wanted to vote, but assured that the committee led by the Benue State deputy governor, Obounu Benson of which she equally belonged would try as much as it could to have a successful outing.
“We have accredited about 18 local government areas out 20, some of them have not yet been accredited, but we want to start so that the agents can see that is where we are now.
“It is apparent that some people don’t want this process to go on, it is clear that some people want it truncated, it is also obvious that some people want to vote. But we will try as much as we can to see what we can do about it.
“All throughout Friday, we were trying to see how to resolve it, but we couldn’t, that is why we came out, if not we would have read out the names to the acceptance of the party members.
“We will be free, we will be fair, whether they want the Congress or not is another thing. We will maintain law and order, we will do what is right,” she said.
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