APC aspirants from Kosofe Constituency 01 have demanded a re-run of the Lagos State House of Assembly Primary Elections, which took place on Friday.
Mr. Olanrewaju Carew, Mr. Gabriel Oluwafemi, and Mrs. Fatimah Akerele-Sobaloju are the three candidates.
Speaking on behalf of other aspirants, Carew made this known during a World Press Conference held in Kosofe, Lagos on Monday.
Carew said they were demanding that a new primary election be conducted with harmonised delegate lists, which comprises of elections held in three wards in the Constituencv and ward A, where the delegate election was inconclusive.
He noted that failure to heed their demands would be viewed as an infringement on their fundamental human rights. After exhausting all avenues through the party mechanism, the aspirant stated that they would not hesitate to seek redress in a court of law.
“We decided to call the press conference to let the entire world know that no primary election took place in Kosofe Constituency 1 on May 18.”
The returning officer for Kosofe Constituency 1, Mr. Fuad Oki, called off the primary election after fake delegates were detected at the venue following a vehement protest from our supporters.
Before calling off the primary election, Oki had listened to the explanations of all parties concerned and also consulted the three Divisional Police Officers from lfako, Anthony and Ogudu Police Stations.
“The three divisional police officers confirmed that the delegate lists brought to the venue were not ones duly signed by them and INEC officials,” he said.
Carew noted that two days prior to the primary election, they received information from reliable sources that the delegate lists that would be used to conduct the primary election in the constituency had been doctored.
According to him, we decided to go in mass to the party secretariat at ACME to register our grievances over the development.
Subsequently, he reminded the State party Chairman, Mr. Comelius Ojelabi, who addressed their party members and assured them that the authentic delegate lists certified by the National Secretariat of the party would be used.
“To our chagrin, when we got to the venue of the primary election on Thursday, we discovered that “delegate tags” had been given to non-elected delegates. The primary election was, as a result, postponed with the hope that the necessary amendments would be made before Friday primary election. When we got to the primary election venue, we discovered that the same group of people had been given delegate tags. This consequently elicited a vehement protest from our party members when the primary was about to take off.”
Carew said they had, consequently, approached the Appeal Committee Panel led by the highly respected Mrs. Stella Okotete and some other distinguished leaders in the party.
He noted that during the conduct of the appeal, all parties were given a free and fair hearing, adding that at the appeal committee, both visual and written evidence were provided to back up their claims.
Carew said in the course of the hearing, the Appeal Chairman called some DPOs present at the primary election on that day, and they all affirmed that no election for the Lagos Assembly in Kosofe Constituency took place.