PDP guber primaries round-up: Voting yet to start in Lagos [DETAILS]

Godwin Akanfe in Lagos, Aminu Tukur in Katsina, Tony Tamuno in Port Harcourt, Iyobosa Omorogie in Asaba

 

There was pandemonium on Monday at the Yard 158 Event Centre, Oregun Road, Ikeja, venue of the governorship primary of the PDP in Lagos State, as supporters of aspirants clashed.

Trouble started at about 2:00 pm when some supporters arrived at the venue chanting solidarity slogans in favour of their preferred aspirant, Jimi Agbaje. Not long after, supporters of another aspirant, Musiliu Obanikoro arrived at the scene and words were exchanged, a situation which deteriorated rapidly.

In the brawl that followed, weapons were used and some people were injured while two people were arrested by the police who resorted to strong arm tactics to restore calm, making use of tear gas and sniffer dogs.

Accreditation of delegates and journalists started at about 3 pm rather than the scheduled 8 am, but by 6 pm, voting had not started.

Katsina

In Katsina state, eight out of the nine PDP governorship aspirants in Katsina State walked out of the venue of the primary election some minutes after the exercise commenced. The dissatisfied aspirants are: Kabir Bakiya, Narisu Dutsin-ma, Ibrahim Ida, Tukur Jikamshi, Nura Khalil, Abdullahi Umar Tata, Ahmed Yar’adua and Gide Yar’adua.

They left Musa Nashuni as the only remaining candidate in the contest after they alleged that the current governor, Ibrahim Shema was trying to impose him as PDP candidate against the wish of party members.

Abdullahi Tata said that they were not satisfied with the way and manner the primary election was being conducted. He said that the name of each local government was written on one box instead of making it on the boxes uniformly. But each ballot paper was numbered in correspondence to the names of delegate on the list so that any delegate who elected any person other than Nashuni would easily be identified and punished.

Tata also said that the aggrieved aspirants had also asked their agents to withdraw from the venue “since there is no transparency in the conduct of the election”.

Rivers

In Rivers state, former Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, has emerged the gubernatorial flag bearer of the PDP in Rivers with 1,083 votes out of the 1,108 cast.

Announcing the results, the Chairman of the Electoral Panel, Mr Bekeakpor Etifa, declared Wike winner over the 24 aspirants that contested in the primaries.

Etifa said that 1,150 delegates were accredited from the 319 electoral wards of the state while 1,108 voted in the election.

Making his victory speech, Wike thanked the delegates for finding him worthy of flying the flag of the party in the 2015 general elections. He promised to reposition the state to the path of prosperity and harmonious relationship with the Federal Government.

The election was very peaceful with large turnout of delegates.

Delta

In Asaba, a minor fracas involving delegates from Ethiope East was quelled shortly after voting started at a quarter before 6 pm.

The leading candidate is said to be former Finance Commissioner, David Edevbie, who is the said to be the preferred candidate of James Ibori, the former state governor who is still very influential. However, the Anioma region of the state, representing the Delta North senatorial district are insisting that power shifts to their zone, being the only zone in the state never to have produced a governor. The front runner from that zone is Ndudi Elumelu.

The vote is happening inside, and journalists have been barred from covering it.

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