BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
The governorship primary of the Lagos State chapter of Labour Party to pick substitution for its candidate failed to hold on Monday as one of the aspirants, Moshood Salvador, stormed out of the venue, alleging irregularity in the delegates’ list.
The party’s deputy national chairman, Lamidi Apanpa therefore announced a fresh exercise to hold on Wednesday.
Both Salvador and Gbadebo Rhodes -Vivour were in the race, scheduled to hold in Papa Ajao but the former expressed concern over the alleged manipulation of the delegates’ list, saying about 26 delegates belonging to him were added to those of his opponent.
This was just as Salvador, who addressed newsmen before storming out of the venue, quickly claimed Rhodes- Vivour had a day earlier agreed to step down for him, saying he was surprised that his opponent insisted on contesting the primary.
However, Rhodes-Vivour said nobody told him any name was added to his own list, noting that it was a simple mistake that had since been resolved, just as he denied the report that the party asked him to step down for Salvador.
The primary was scheduled for Monday because the state chairman of the party, Olukayode Salako, at a briefing held last week, said the party was yet to pick a candidate for the state, dismissing claims that somebody had emerged as candidate of LP in the state for the 2023 poll.
Salvador, while addressing newsmen, said he got to the venue of the primary to discover that the list of delegates had been doctored and skewed to favour his opponent.
According to him, each of the aspirants was mandated to submit 100 names of delegates but claimed that 26 out of the names of delegates he submitted were missing from the compiled list and added to the list belonging to Rhodes- Vivour.
Salvador, therefore, called for cancellation of the primary and urged the party to fix another date when a free, fair and transparent primary would be conducted.
“I can confidently say the party is the problem of itself. We have done all possible best. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour is like a cousin to me and the father even spoke to me this morning, I even pledged N5 million to his election if he wins.
“We had a rumour that some people were demanding a lot of money from him, whether he gave it to them or not, I don’t know but we agreed that he should bring 100 delegates, I will bring 100 delegates and the State Exco would now join with 17 delegates to make it 217.
“But this morning, 30 minutes to the primary we realized that they have removed 26 delegates out of mine and added it to his. They are now telling me it is a mistake but that can never be taking as a mistake. Therefore, I cannot have confidence in this electoral body again.
“The party would need to reorganize themselves and not to do the primary today again. The delegate lists have been doctored and they are now saying they are going to correct it. Therefore, we cannot have confidence in this electoral body again. And that is why the primary election should be cancelled.” Salvador said.
Responding to Salvador’s claim, Rhodes-Vivour maintained that nobody told him any list was added to his, saying that the error which he described as a simple mistake had been resolved now.
“Everybody has their delegate lists and they would be accredited. There is no issues here,” he said.
Speaking further, the LP chieftain denied the report that the party asked him to step down for Salvador, maintaining that everything had been resolved, assuring that LP was going ahead to have a free and fair election at the venue of the primary.
“I don’t know why the Deputy National Chairman would say that because everybody bought form to contest in the election and the fact of the matter is that I have the right to contest. It is a very fair system that we have even though, there was an initial breach, everything has been resolved and we are going to have a free and fair election. The election is going to take place today,” he said.
The party secretary in Lagos State and chairman of the substitution governorship primary in the state, Sam Emeka Okpara, said that they were at the venue of the primary to conduct the substitution primary election for the governorship candidate of Labour Party in Lagos State, adding that all the relevant authorities had been notified.
Okpara, who equally admitted that a mistake was made on the delegate list, however, pointedly declared that no aspirant was empowered to call for cancelation of the exercise.
“He may express his personal opinion or grievances towards the exercise but the truth is that the party has promised all aspirants that we are going to have free, fair and credible primary for all the aspirants,” he said.
The party deputy national chairman, Lamidi Apanpa, while speaking with newsmen in reaction to the development, expressed surprise that the situation got to a level where someone was calling for cancellation of the primary because of little error which might have occurred while printing the names of delegates.
He later announced cancellation of the exercise and shifted holding of fresh primary to Wednesday.
