Governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, on Monday alleged ongoing manipulation of the results of last Saturday’s elections, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately release them.
This was just as he decried the violence that rocked the exercise in areas that he described as stronghold of his party, such as Okota, Surulere, Oshodi- Isolo, among others, calling on the security agencies to fish out perpetrators of the act and make them face the wrath of the law.
Agbaje made the call at a press conference he addressed at his campaign office on Ikorodu Road, Lagos, alongside his running mate, Mrs Haleemat Busari; the party ‘s House of Representatives candidate for Oshodi-Isolo 1 Federal Constituency, Honourable Mutiu Shadimu, wondering why 48 hours after polls ended, the commission still failed to release all results, just as he described the delay as a deliberate act on the part of INEC.
“As I speak today, we have a situation where results are being delayed. It is two days now and results are not being released in Lagos State. And they are not being released in areas where we, PDP, have strength.
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“And that is deliberate. We have a situation where results are being tampered with. That is not going to be acceptable to us. We will not accept results that have been tampered with in Lagos State.”
According to Shadimu, who is a sitting member of the House of Representatives, voters in his constituency had been intimidated on Saturday by hoodlums led by an officer of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the area, saying that the same gang had also prevented traders from opening their shops on Monday.
Agbaje said INEC officials’ delay in releasing voting figures was unpalatable and an extension of the faulty conduct of elections in several polling areas throughout Lagos, pointing out that the commission did not carry out the exercise based on the guideline laid down in certain cases.
“The problems started from the polling units. The guidelines were very clear, that after election and counting of votes, election results are supposed to be pasted on the wall at the polling unit. We have no reports that election results were posted anywhere in Lagos State. That was the beginning of the problem.
“At the collation centres, we had a lot of intimidation of our agents. The ruling party had a multiplicity of party agents representing it. We had a situation where officials of the Lagos State government showed up and were represented in their numbers against the lone voices of our agents. We had a situation where our collation agents were arrested, leaving us unrepresented at the collation stage. That again is not acceptable.
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“We go back to the election day, wherein a lot of cases, we had a situation where the card readers did not function, including my own voting unit. It created a situation where the electoral agents were unable to verify the identity of voters vis-a-vis the PVCs presented,” he said.
Speaking further, the PDP governorship candidate, Agbaje, while calling on security agencies to bring to book those who caused the mayhem in Okota, Coker Aguda, among others, said it was very important to do such if the country were to talk about democracy being practised and where votes must count.
“Now we are calling on security agents to bring to book those who caused the mayhem in Okota, Coker Aguda and several other places in Lagos State. And that is very important. If we are going to talk about democracy, then we have to practise the culture. It means that everybody will play his part. Voters will come and vote and we have assured them that their votes count.
“Where we disenfranchise many voters, then we are just paying lip service to our democracy. We have places where not less than 37 polling units in one local government have their votes cancelled and stolen. And this was done very openly; it is on camera,” he said.
Corroborating Agbaje, Hon. Shadimu, who accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of employing hoodlums to wreak havoc on several polling units in the council, pointing out that traders thought to be loyal to PDP were being attacked and prevented from opening their shops in the popular Oshodi Market
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