A governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State and a former Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi, on Saturday, rejected the delegates list for the PDP’s primary election scheduled for Sunday.
Some other candidates joined Awoniyi in rejecting the delegates list.
They made their position known at a news conference held in Lokoja on Saturday.
Present at the news conference were some leaders, party chairmen and stalwarts.
Awoniyi told journalists that the delegates list put together at the March 29 and April 8 ad-hoc and delegates’ congresses in the area had been manipulated to favour a particular aspirant.
He said, “We are calling this meeting to address the great anomalies that have come to the fore regarding the PDP primary election slated for Sunday.
“With me here are photocopies of the authentic delegates list, which had been duly certified by INEC as the result of what transpired on March 29 at the PDP congress in Kogi.
“We have copies of the delegates list for the twenty-one local government areas and the entire two hundred thirty-nine wards across the state supported by the state’s PDP executives.
“It’s trite to say that while the party sets up guidelines for due process and the process is adhered to, it’s unreasonable to have the same party jeopardising the same process by importing strange names into the delegates list.’’
“There will be serious and grave consequences for the PDP if the approved delegates list isn’t used.”
On his part, another frontline aspirant, Dr Bolufemi Rotimi, said, “Failure not to use the authentic list will result in cancellation of the whole process.
“If they forge any list on Sunday for the primary election, there’s going to be a serious crisis.”
Also speaking, a PDP senatorial candidate for Kogi West, Tajudeen Yusuf branded the manipulated delegates list as a terrible development and an attempt to commit fraud.
