Maku, Wogu lose • Ribadu, Wike, Folarin win
Barely four months after joining the Peoples Democratic Party, a
pharmacist and
an entrepreneur, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, on Monday emerged as the PDP
governorship
candidate for Lagos State.

He defeated a former Minister of State for Defence and Nigeria’s ex-High
Commissioner to Ghana, Musiliu Obanikoro,who was touted as the leading
contestant in the primary.

Agbaje scored 432 votes as against the 346 by Obanikoro. The other
aspirants,
Babatunde Gbadamosi got 21 votes; Tokunbo Kamson, 46 votes and
Adedeji
Doherty, 21 votes.

The exercise was nearly marred by violence following a controversy which
surrounded the number of votes cast by the delegates.

When the voting started, the Chairman of the electoral committee, Senator
Shehu Kumo, announced that there were 806 delegates.

But when votes were being sorted, it was discovered that the number of
votes
cast were 863.

All efforts to get the number of votes and the number of delegates to tally
proved abortive but Kumo insisted that the exercise should continue.

Amid the resistance by supporters of some of the aspirants, about 60
armed
policemen formed a barricade around the ballot boxes and ensured that the
counting continued.

When tables and chairs were overturned at the centre, Obanikoro
immediately
stormed out.

Immediately after the announcement, Agbaje commended the committee
and
promised to work with other aspirants.

As the tension heightened, about 200 policemen and operatives of the
Department of State Service stormed the venue. Agbaje was whisked away
before policemen began firing gunshots into the air.

It was however victory galore for many of the PDP governors as most of
their
preferred candidates triumphed during the race in their states.

But the Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngilari, had a shocker as
he
was beaten by a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, at the old Parade Ground, Abuja where the
exercise for the state took place.

There were however boycotts and protests by many aspirants in states like
Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ogun and Oyo.


http://mygramnews.com/2014/12/966/