…Researched and contributed by Solomon Thomas.
Governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State, including former Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi, rejected the delegates list for the party’s primary election, scheduled for Sunday.
The candidates stated their position at a news conference in Lokoja on Saturday, with several leaders, party chairmen, and stalwarts present.
Awoniyi claimed that the delegates list had been manipulated to favour a particular aspirant, adding that using an altered list would jeopardise the due process and could result in severe consequences for the PDP.
Awoniyi stated that the authentic delegates’ list had been duly certified by INEC, having been the result of the PDP congress in Kogi on March 29.
He said copies of the delegates’ list for all twenty-one local government areas and the entire two hundred and thirty-nine wards across the state were supported by the state’s PDP executives.
He added that it was unreasonable for the party to set up guidelines for due process and later manipulate the delegates’ list by importing strange names.
Another aspirant, Dr Bolufemi Rotimi, warned that using a forged list for the primary election would result in a serious crisis, and the whole process would be cancelled.
Tajudeen Yusuf, a PDP senatorial candidate for Kogi West, called the manipulated delegates’ list a terrible development and an attempt to commit fraud.
The PDP’s primary election in Kogi State will be monitored by INEC to ensure that the process is free and fair.