18th December, 2014
A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to maintain the status quo on the controversial governorship primaries conducted in Lagos on 8 December which produced Jimi Agabaje as the party’s candidate for the 2015 governorship poll.
It would be recalled that after Agbaje was named the party’s governorship candidate fellow contestant Senator Musiliu Obanikoro described the primaries as a ‘sham’ after the total number of votes cast, 863, was higher than the total number of accredited delegates, 806.
He consequently took the matter to court after the 48 hours timeline stipulated by the PDP Electoral Guideline to address his appeal elapsed without a response from the party.
The court has, however, fixed 23 December for INEC and PDP to appear before it and, as such, forbade Agbaje, the acclaimed winner, to stop parading himself as the party’s candidate until the suit before it was heard.
Obanikoro in his suit asked the court not to recognise Agbaje because he joined the party barely six months ago and, as such, was morally unfit to contest for governorship, since the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had not given him a waiver.
Other issue in contention before the court was that the leader of the party in Lagos, Chief Olabode George, allegedly came with thugs to scare accredited voters loyal to Obanikoro away from the venue.
Obanikoro, in his prayer, is seeking for outright cancellation of the exercise and a rerun at a date to be fixed.