By Olamide Talub
Aggrieved aspirants of the People's Democratic Party, PDP in the 2020 party primaries, including a party chieftain in Ondo North senatorial district, Architect Tunde Obaude, have berated the party leaders for not respecting the party constitution.
Obaude, who faulted the conduct of the concluded party primaries that mostly result to court cases, lamented that the outcome of the primaries were dissatisfying as many of the results are being challenged in court.
Speaking on the Akoko North East constituency primary, he lamented that “The Ondo north PDP primary wasn't fair enough. it wasn't done in accordance to the laid down rules of the party. It was unfair to me and other candidates that participated. In fact that was what led to court cases in the senatorial district. Presently, we have four cases in court.
“The issue of national delegate in PDP is mainly the responsibility of the leaders. It's the leaders forum of a party that do elect the party delegates. Fortunately for me, I am a member of this forum in Akoko North East. The leaders in Akoko North East is made up of 20 persons, including me
"So on April 20, following the guidelines directly from the party secretariat that the leaders should go and present candidates for who will represent each local government in the national forthcoming election then, out of the 20 leaders, 15 out of them chose me as the national delegate
“Now the laid down procedure is that the leader will elect and the state will give the elected candidate a form, the individual will fill it and then be the national delegate but in my case, on that very day, I was asked to pay 50,000 naira for the form” he disclosed.
According to him, the letter has been signed for him and the money was sent through the party chairman as directed by the state. Unfortunately, the much needed results were not visible because the party chairman deprived him of his right to get a form.
“To me, he played me by obeying some people's instruction that I should not be given the form because according to them, they have their own candidate; note this, their candidate never participated in the procedure
“The directive is if a local government cannot resolve, assuming the leaders cannot resolve on a candidate, they will need to go to a congress. He said the person that came first, assuming we are two in Akoko North East, I came first, the other guy had 5 and I had 15. The first in line will pay 50,000 naira, the person that came second, who is now forcing the local government to go to congress will pay 100,000 naira but when it reached my turn, because I wasn't their chosen one, which I am in my local government.
“Despite the 50,000 naira I paid on 20th of April through the local government Chairman, Honorable Giwa Kareem, the other candidate collected his form on the 21st of April and I wasn't even given a form, remember I paid earlier, that was, on 20th of April.
“On 25th of April, I was asked to pay 100,000 naira in addition to the 50,000 because to them now, I was the one forcing the party to go to congress. I couldn't take it anymore, I felt pained and threatened to take the party to court on the note that they defrauded me, so at the end I recieved the form, filled it right there and submitted”
“The congress was meant to commence on May 10 which happened. In the party directive on the electoral act, the chairman of the party has the power to call for congress in the secretariat
In a bid to encourage a sense of fair play and coordination, Tunde Obaude narrated how he managed to “mobilized people from all the 13 wards in Akoko North East, I spent money, I also mobilized over 1,235 to be specific and asked them to come along to the party secretariat with their voters card. On getting there, I told the electorally officers the directives I gave the people so they won't feel there was any game or ill arrangement. Out of 1,235, we got 857, that came with party cards and voters cards”
In the same vein, he stated that despite the submission of his name, he was informed that he had issues.
“That day, the party ought to send a representative from the secretariat from Oka to witness the election. Surprisingly, this man didn't show up, only for us to hear that he had showed up in another location where the other guy; the candidate that didn't go through the necessary process had arranged his own kangaroo primary which was against the party laid down rules. This led me to writing a petition in black and white at the party secretariat and I submitted it”
Furthermore, he also revealed that several attempts to correct the injustice proved abortive since the leaders refused to show their grievances.
“You see, every political issues comes with political solution. Challenges posed during elections can be addressed but first we need to work in accordance to the laid down rules or procedures given to us by our respective political parties. In my case, I believe what happened during the recent Ondo North East constituency primary can be corrected. If it means to go through other lengths, my fellow colleagues and I are willing to correct this injustice”.
Other aggrieved members are Hon Abdul Olabomi Afolami, Hon Lekan Bada and Hon Foluso Mayowa Adefemi
The Hope
Post a Comment