The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Thursday, declared that Senator Kashamu Buruji representing Ogun East senatorial district cannot under any imagination be the party’s governorship candidate in Ogun state come March 2.
It also informed the general public, security agencies, all electoral organs, observers and particularly, its teeming supporters in the state that its candidate in the March 2, election remains Hon. Ladi Adebutu.
PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan said this while briefing newsmen at the party’s headquarters in Abuja.
In his words, “The PDP holds that Senator Buruji cannot under any imagination be the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun state. He is not a member of our party; he did not participate in our Ogun state governorship primary and has no connection whatsoever in our governorship nomination process at any level for that matter.
“INEC cannot go to the streets to pick a candidate for our party. It must therefore, in compliance with the extant judgment of the Court of Appeal, immediately reflect Ladi Adebutu’s name in the ballot, otherwise Nigerians will have no other option than to conclude that Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has become compromised to cause confusion and anarchy in Ogun state”.
Ologbondiyan added, “The PDP cautions the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to insulate the commission from unnecessary controversies by immediately obeying the judgment of the Court of Appeal of December 18, 2018, and without further delay reflect Hon. Ladi Adebutu’s name on the ballot, in the interest of a hitch free and peaceful election in Ogun state.
“The PDP states that Hon. Ladi Adebutu’s name was duly and statutorily submitted to INEC after he won the governorship primary conducted by the National Working Committee (NWC), the only body empowered by law to conduct such primaries.
“The PDP has not substituted his nomination with anybody and such is not in our contemplation.
“The PDP charges the INEC Chairman to note that since the ruling of the Court of Appeal validating Hon. Ladi Adebutu as the PDP governorship candidate in Ogun state, no other court, not even the Supreme Court has over turned that extant ruling.
“INEC is therefore compelled to obey the law. It cannot choose for itself which judgment to obey and cannot operate in waiting, anticipation or contemplation of a non-existent consideration in the conduct of the Ogun governorship election.”
The opposition party, therefore, urged all Nigerians, particularly the people of Ogun state, to completely disregard certain individuals, including Buruji saying, “he has been making misleading comments and trying to create an impression that the Supreme Court has made a pronouncement on the issue”.
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