Council poll: Lagos PDP kicks against postponement of date

The Lagos chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),has cautioned the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) against alleged moves to postpone the date for the council election,noting that though the ruling party(All Progressives Congress) appears not procedurally ready for the poll.

The closest political rival jostling for the control of the 20 Local Government Areas(LGA) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) asserts that irrespective of the crisis rocking the APC the poll must take place as earlier scheduled.

It will however be recalled that the consensus arrangement as against a direct primary,has been the bane of the partial peace in  APC .

Enraged by the political manoeuvrings clearly in bad taste to many of the aspirants for both councillorship and chairmanship posts together with their supporters across the state,incessant protests and allegation of imposition by the party leaders followed, with the party yet to roll out final list of its candidates for the election.

The Lagos Chairman of the PDP , Otunba Segun Adewale aka Aeroland, who addressed journalists at the PDP secretariat Sogunle, Ikeja Lagos flanked by the secretary, Mr. Jide Ladeinde, confirmed the party’s readiness for the council election, stressing it was very obvious that the APC was not so ready.

According to Adewale, the APC should not even be allowed to contest the election in a sane society,owing to the fact that it is yet to afford its candidate list as no primary was held and that it was waiting to sit somewhere and write the result of the election in its own favour.

“When you look around the states, you see our posters, you see our banners, and our candidates are campaigning everywhere, we are ready.

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“We know they are not ready, but they are ready to rig the election. They just want to sit down somewhere and write the results and we are also planning how to counter that. We are very, very ready to win that election.

“We are insisting on election, I hope they would not try it (postponement). We know they are yet to submit their names and I am sure they are not ready for the exercise. Ordinarily, in a sane society, they shouldn’t be allowed to participate in this election because this is a party that has refused to conduct their primaries. This is a party that is yet to have list of their candidates ready for an election that is coming around the corner. I hope they would not try it. They would not try to postpone it. I just hope so,” the PDP chairman said.

Speaking further, Otunba Adewale, who belongs to the Ali Modu Sheriff group, maintained that the PDP in Lagos remained united, saying no division existed in the fold.

He stressed that majority of those who defected to the Labour Party (LP) to contest on its platform were never totally for PDP, but were working for the ruling APC while they were in PDP.

“You see, the people that went to Labour Party, if you look at them from the beginning, 99 per cent of them were not part PDP. They were in PDP but working for APC. That is why I continue to say that in Lagos PDP there is no division.

“The people that went were the same people that were working pari pasu with the APC from the beginning. So to us here, it is good riddance to bad rubbish,” he said.

Also speaking, the party secretary, Ladeinde assured that the Lagos PDP was quite ready for the forthcoming council election, saying, “We had collected and properly returned LASIEC forms for all the councillorship and chairmanship positions in Lagos State and are totally prepared for the election.”

“We are, therefore, not in any alliance or merger or any other form of association with any other political party be it Labour Party or Accord Party or by any other name for purpose of forthcoming election.

“For the sake of clarity and emphasis, we hereby declare that the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State is not divided and neither is it in any untoward relationship with any other party. We are totally loyal to our great party and would never leave it for any other place irrespective of anything that happens at the national level,” he said.