Mr Nicholas Akobada has clinched the Peoples Democratic Party’s ticket to contest for the Lagos East Senatorial District seat in 2023.
According to Mr Daniel Ochu-Baiye, Chairman of the PDP Electoral Committee/ Returning Officer for the senatorial primary election, Akobada scored 74 votes to defeat his closest rival, Yeye Agnes Adenike-Shobajo, who polled 63 votes.
Announcing the result Tuesday morning at the PDP Secretariat in Somolu, he said that Mr Obadiaru Adebayo, another contestant, scored 16 votes while Princess Saidat Odofin-Fafore polled two votes.
The exercise witnessed some hitches and protests over allegation of fake delegates list, especially when ad hoc delegates from Ikorodu, with about 58 ad hoc delegates, were voting.
The development came after delegates from four out of the five local government areas that made up the senatorial distinct had voted.
Delegates from Somolu, Kosofe, Epe and Ibeju-Lekki had voted before the disruption.
The issues resulted into several protests by delegates from Ikorodu who insisted that names of delegates on the list brought by the electoral committee were not authentic.
After huge noise and drama, the electoral committee declared the election inconclusive, citing security risk, and left the venue, but later came back to announce the result and declared a winner.
The ad hoc delegates had waited since Monday morning for the exercise, but the electoral committee only showed up at 11:50 p.m.
The accreditation and voting started simultaneously at 12:03 a.m. on Tuesday, and ended at 1:40 a.m.
The exercise was conducted under heavy security presence and was monitored by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Mr Akanbi Abidakun, who led the INEC team to observe the primary, said that it was orderly and the electoral committee followed due process.
Abidakun, however, advised the party to ensure better logistics in future primary elections, saying that a single electoral committee should not be tasked with conducting primaries in more than one senatorial district.
“The party should look into this and expand the electoral committee for each senatorial district rather than keeping people waiting endlessly. They should improve on this.”
