An aspirant to the Lagos State House of Assembly for Somolu Constituency II under the All Progressives Congress, Gboyega Lookman Salau, has condemned the primary election held on 27th May 2022 at Bariga LCDA Secretariat for the constituency.
Salau, according to The Nation, described the primary as “a charade fraught with irregularities and run contrary to the stipulation of the electoral act 2022.”
Speaking at a press briefing, which he said was to bring the anomaly to the notice of the party leaders and stakeholders, Salau said, “At the primary election held in Somolu Constituency 2, we had 30 delegates that were accredited. One of our delegates was fraudulently replaced by another person who was also a state delegate, the Nation News reports confirmed.
”I raised the issue with the executive chairman of Bariga LCDA, Hon. Kolade Alabi promised to look into the matter and that he would not allow the delegate to take part in the electoral process. When the process was going on, we again raised objections on some delegates who were political appointees that were illegally accredited as against the Electoral Act but the returning officer advised that we could not stop the process and that we can only petition the appeal committee if we have any issue or whatsoever.”.
Quoting Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, Salau added: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”
He said this implies that “political appointees who intend to be voting delegates or stand as aspirants for elective positions in a primary election shall, first of all, resign their appointments. For a political appointee, the failure to resign an appointment before voting as a delegate or standing as an aspirant in a primary election violates the electoral act. Further, it renders the primary election null and void and illegal.”
Salau said at the end of the election, Mr. Samuel Apata had 16 delegates’ votes, out of which five were illegal delegates, while he had 13 legitimate votes.
Consequently, Salau said he filed an appeal at the party secretariat on Acme Road, Ikeja, but a chieftain of the party interfered with the Appeal Committee’s process and tried to jeopardize the process.
