Factional chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Segun Adewale, has called on members of the party to be united and ensure that the party eventually wins Saturday’s rerun election for the House of Representatives seat in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area.
In a statement to journalists in Lagos, Thursday, Adewale pleaded with a faction of the party in the constituency who is aggrieved, urging them to jettison their anger for the sake of peace and interest of the party.
He stated that returning Rita Orji to the House of Representatives should be a collective effort of all members, promising to apply political solutions to resolve the issues so that peace can reign in the party within the Local government Area.
The election for the House of Representatives seat for the constituency became inconclusive because no candidate emerged a clear winner as a result of cancellation of election in 71 polling units affected by violence and over voting in the February 26 election.
Adewale stressed that no matter the disagreements, party members should be seen as one big family, adding that working against the party’s candidate by aggrieved members will send wrong signals to innocent members of the public that the party is in disarray.
The Chairman further charged party members to come out en-mass and canvass for votes, man all the polling units where the rerun will take place, adding that PDP’s votes must be adequately guarded to avoid electoral robbery.
He added that the victory of PDP in the election will affect the party positively in future elections, while the morale of members will be boosted
“We need to work for victory. If the internal rancour is allowed to fester to the point of setting members against one another, the party would be seen as unserious party who is not worthy of being followed. Whatever the issues, all parties involved should work together and settle all issues after the election in the overall interest of the party”, Adewale said.
Meanwhile the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured stakeholders that it is ready to conduct a free and fair election on Saturday.
INEC Public Relation Officer (PRO) in Lagos State, Femi Ifabiyi, stated this in an interview with BusinessDay, Thursday, noting that sensitive materials and other logistics for the election had been delivered to the commission and was in safe custody.
He dismissed the insinuation that the Electoral Officer (EO) in the Local government Area was working for the ruling All progressives Congress (APC).
“We are set for the rerun election, the officials have just arrived this morning from Abuja and all sensitive materials have been delivered to the commission and keept in CBN,” he said.
“It is not true that the EO was working for APC. Those alleging that he was promised house and money by APC should bring evidence,” Ifabiyi said.
