By Gilbert Ekezie

Protesters on Monday stalled the rescheduled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election for the House of Representatives for Ajeromi/Ifelodun federal constituency of Lagos State.

Four aspirants seeking the House of Representatives in the Ajeromi/Ifelodun constituency are Hon (Bar) Rita Orji, who represented the constituency at the 8th Assembly, Chief Francis Bartholomew Chima ‘OMOBARCA.’ Dr Emilia Ezeude and Bar Wilson Diriwari who did not show up at the election.

The protesters suspected to be supporters of one of the major aspirants, Chief Francis Bartholomew Chima (OMOBARCA), trooped in their large numbers with placards alleging that the delegates list produced by the Electoral Officer, Mr Nicholas, was fake and could not serve the common interest of the party members, therefore insisted that the original list must be provided.

When the protest became so tense that the returning officer could not continue with the election, he decided to put it on hold. All efforts made by journalists to speak with the electoral officer on the next line of action were futile, as he was whisked away by security operatives for fear of the unknown.

Reacting to the situation, a member of the Local Organizing Committee of the PDP primary election in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area, Mr Kasimu Ebozogi described it as an ugly development that was not supposed to occur.

He noted that party members raised the alarm when it was discovered that the list that was generated from the local government for the election was changed.

According to him, the PDP members in the Local Government intended to follow the directive of the National Working Committee of the party for the rerun, but revolted when they discovered during the accreditation that the list of delegates generated among them, was altered.”We discovered that the names that were called by the Electoral Officer as delegates, were not those generated by us. We also discovered that the paper from which the names were read was not a PDP document, because it was not carrying the party’s logo. In fact, the logo on the paper was different from the new logo of our party.

“As a result, party members and supporters decided to protest, and thank God for the timely intervention of the police officers and other security operatives who discussed with the returning officer, and the next thing we heard was that the rerun has been called off.”

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Ebozogi said since the election had been called off, the first election that was conducted and cancelled without concrete reason, should be used because a winner emerged then,”We would like to appeal to the National Working Committee of the party and the party to present the name of the candidate who emerged from the previous primary election conducted a few weeks ago, that is Chief Francis Bartholomew Chima to the Independent National Electoral Committee (INEC). as the party candidate because he is the only person who can win the election for the party.”

The LGA party Secretary, Mr Yusuf Olatunde Ajiwe was not impressed with the outcome of the rerun, stating that the alteration of the delegates list triggered the protest by party loyalists. “The returning officer came with a doctored list which is different from the list that was generated from this constituency. “As the LGA Secretary I am privy to the authentic list that was sent, unfortunately, that list was altered and that is the grievance of the teeming supporters of ‘Omobarca. We suspected that the list was altered by Hon Rita Orji because she operates with the national office rather than with the LGA. She did not honour our invitation when all the PDP aspirants were invited for a meeting, that was the reason the protesters expressed their displeasure.

“The people carried placards to declare their support for Omobarca and they insisted that the candidate who won the election held on the 22nd of May should be presented to INEC since he is the choice of the people.”

In her reaction, Hon Rita Orji, expressed displeasure on the activities of those whom she described as political thugs. She said the action of the so-called supporters and that of their principal, were uncalled for and against the rules of conduct of the election.

Orji informed that the delegates list, which was alleged to be fake, was the same list that was used in the conduct of the Governorship, Senatorial and House of Assembly elections, and wondered whether the list was changed after those elections were conducted.

“Everyone saw what transpired at the rerun venue. You all saw how political thugs disrupted the election. The returning officer was verbally assaulted and there was no way that the election would have been held under that condition. I think the reason they disrupted the election was that they were not ready for it and never wanted it to hold because they know that they will lose.”

She explained that the matter has been reported to the party leadership and that they are expected to take the necessary action before the expiration of the deadline for the submission of the candidates’ names. “I am a law-abiding citizen and so I will obey any position that is taken by the party. I did not expect what happened at the rerun and I hope that very soon, the national office will take an action because we should have a candidate to fly the party’s flag in the general elections.”

Orji said that there was a judgement that pronounced her as a winner of the previous primary election, so since the party must have a candidate for the forthcoming election, the national office should act urgently, due to time constraints.