Moses Ofodeme
Residents of Ikorodu Constituency 1 in Ikorodu Central, Lagos State, on Friday accused the leadership of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, of declaring as winner an aspirant that came third in the just concluded primary election into the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The residents who stormed the party’s secretariat at ACME road, Ikeja, to protest the outcome of the election accused the party’s leadership of imposing one Bolowotan whom they claimed came third in the election as the winner over Gbolahan Ogunleye whom they said won the election and was gunning for a second term in office.
One of the protesters, Ayomide Banjoko, who is the Woman Leader , Ward B, Ikorodu Central said that the residents voted massively for Gbolahan during the primary and won the election but were shocked when the party released the name of Bolowotan as the winner.
“We all came out and voted massively for Hon Gbolahan Ogunleye in Ikorodu Constituency 1 for second term. Surprisingly we later heard that the name of the person that came third, Bolowotan, was announced as the winner, “ she lamented
She called on the party’s leadership to return the name of Gbolahan as the real winner of the primary.
“We voted for Gbolahan and no one else. We did not vote for Bolowotan,” she said.
Another protester, Davis Oluwaseun said they decided to stage the protest to express their displeasure over the alleged imposition of Bolowotan by the party.
“We are here to show our displeasure over the results that were announced last week Saturday. Hon.Gbolahan Ogunleye won the election but Bolowotan who came third was announced as the winner by the party. There was no election in Ikorodu North but we were surprised the party announced over 13,000 votes. The same thing happened in Ikorodu West where there was no election but they announced election results. Where did they get the votes from? she queried.
She added: “ We had submitted a petition to the APC leadership but they have not addressed it. We want the party to address this issue. Gbolahan did well in his first term and we want him for the second term because we want continuity.”
Iyabo Oduntan, also a resident of Ikorodu questioned why the party removed the name of Gbolahan and inserted Bolowotan as the winner.
“How come Hon Bolowotan who came third was announced as the winner? Gbolahan Ogunleye has touched lives in Ikorodu during his first term.. We have been cheated because the party can not take our votes and give it to someone else that did not win. Gbolahan has been a great man, he has helped a lot of people so the party should look into this and return his name as the winner,” she said.