Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tunji Shelle, in a recent chat with party supporters said that former president Goodluck Jonathan contributed to the reasons why Jimi Agbaje, the party's gubernatorial candidate, lost in the April 2015 election in the state.
The Punch reports that the party chairman said this on Saturday at the inauguration of the constituency office of Mr. Dipo Olorunrinu, who represents Amuwo Odofin constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, stating that the former president's inaction towards the illegalities put forward by the All Progressives Congress (APC) made Agbaje lose the last elections.
Shelle said that without fear of contradiction, he was sure the party won the governorship election. He further stated that if Jonathan had not declined or had not allowed illegalities to take place and that if he had not allowed the APC to win at the national level, the PDP would have won Lagos fair and square because Agbaje had the merit and capacity to win the election in state.
“He was the man that every Lagosian wanted and I am sure that they voted for him. You will see that even the difference between his own (votes) and that of the governor’s (Akinwunmi Ambode), is very small. And it is small because we did our best to control the excesses of the APC in Lagos. We have never had it this tough or this good, but in an election somebody would have to count his blessings at the end of the day,” the chairman stated.
He stressed that but for the rigging by APC, PDP’s victory would have been far greater than winning eight assembly seats and six House of Representatives seats. He expressed confidence in Agbaje becoming the governor of state as since his case had been taken to the Appeal Court after it was struck out by the Election Petitions Tribunal.
He said, “We have not lost out and we believe we are going to regain some of the seats that the APC are occupying for the time being. We are still at the tribunal for the governorship election and we have even moved to the appeal stage. We may be asked to go back to the tribunal but whichever way it goes, we stand a high chance of winning at the tribunal at the Appeal Court. So, Jimi Agbaje is still very OK and we believe at the end of the day, victory will be our lot.”
Commenting on those calling for his removal as the state party chairman, Shelle who had been suspended by a faction of the state executive committee, said that they should wait till November or December when a new congress would take place insisting that until then, he remains the chairman.
“I don’t want to remain at the chairman forever. But, whoever is interested in becoming the chairman should wait till November or December when another executive committee will be set up. Why can’t they exercise patience? I never did this to the people that are older than me in Lagos. People should learn to respect the party and the rules of the game,” he stated.