Lagos PDP governorship candidate, party trade words over campaign fund

THE leadership of Lagos State People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the party’s candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, are embroiled in a war of words over the management of the campaign funds released by the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to the state chapter.

The PDP leadership is demanding an apology from Agbaje for sidelining them in the disbursement of campaign funds and logistics for the presidential and governorship elections

PDP chieftains said Agbaje’s conduct was responsible for the party’s abysmal performance.

The party spokesman, Mr. Taofik Gani, yesterday alleged that Agbaje sat over the campaign funds and alienated strong members and leaders of the party from the final disbursement for logistics.

This action, he said, consequently reflected in the performance of the state PDP during the elections.

Agbaje polled 206, 141 votes during the governorship election won by the All Progressives Congress (APC ) governorship candidate, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who scored 739,445 votes.

Gani, who visited The Nation office in Lagos yesterday, said: “As the image-maker of the party, I’m still struggling to defend the issues surrounding the disbursement of the election logistics because the action is such that can undermine loyalty, commitment and selflessness to the party.

“I will advise Agbaje to accept that he made a big blunder to have unilaterally disbursed logistics provided by the presidential candidate to the extent that not even the state chairman, Dr. Adegbola Dominic or the party leader, Chief Bode George, knew anything about the manner of disbursement. I am also aware that other leaders like Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, Mrs. Aduke Maina and Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele were in the dark.”

But, Agbaje’s spokesperson, Mrs. Modupe Ogunbayo, dismissed the allegations made against her principal.

According to Mrs. Ogunbayo, “Agbaje sourced for funds and disbursed them to all that were involved in the election process. All the people that participated in the election including party agents and councillors were fully mobilised and funded during the elections. As I speak, many of them are still collecting funds. So, what are they still talking about after the election that has come and gone?”

She said: “Agbaje is a noble party man, who will never embark on a road that is inimical to the development of PDP.  He is a true democrat, who took part in the party primary and won. He had always abided by the party’s rules and regulations. It will not be fair to denigrate him for selfish reasons. We should move beyond this level.”

She explained that there used to be campaign meetings at Agaje’s office at least once in a week, which was always attended by the party’s spokesman, Mr. Taofik Gani.

According to her, a campaign council headed by Senator Ogunlewe was set up.

She listed other members of the council as including Mrs. Maina, Mrs. Adesola Benson, PDP Deputy Chairman Waliu Hassan and the deputy governorship candidate, Mrs. Oluwayemisi Busari, among others.

“Apart from that, there is a forum of larger PDP members that meet every Tuesday at Ikeja, where my principal interfaced with stakeholders. They included House of Representatives members and party chieftains. So, anybody who says Agbaje monopolised the party or never carried the leadership along is far from telling the truth.

However, Gani said: “The money in question was not near what we knew the All Progressives Congress (APC) spent in Lagos, but that sum was enough to compliment the ready-made votes for PDP in Lagos. The manner of disbursement by Agbaje leaves a lot of doubts.”

On the implication of Agbaje’s unilateral action, Gani said: “The post-governorship election in Lagos PDP is such that the national headquarters of PDP must act swiftly to forestall any complete disaffection for the party. Lagosians were disappointed. Efforts must be made to re-boost the love and confidence of Lagosians in PDP.

“I will reiterate that Agbaje should find a forum to publicly apologise to the party for the manner he influenced the last actions on the presidential election. But for the fact that Agbaje was the governorship candidate, one would have hastily declared him as a saboteur in Lagos PDP. I really must commend Alhaji Atiku and hope that he would find solace in many other areas.