Monarchs rigged election for Ambode – PDP

The Lagos State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Tunji Shelle, says traditional rulers in the state rigged the April 11 election in favour of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

While speaking with our correspondent in an exclusive interview, Shelle alleged that most of the rigging took place in the Lekki/ Ajah area of the state.

The PDP boss said the election was rigged inside several palaces such that the number of voters exceeded the number of accredited voters.

Shelle said the PDP was aware of the plans beforehand and informed the Resident Electoral Commission, Mr. Akin Orebiyi, about the plans of the monarchs but little was done to prevent it.

He said, “The most annoying thing about the election was that some of the traditional rulers in Lagos State didn’t allow democracy to flow normally.

“Why in the first instance should ballot boxes be put in the front of obas’ palaces? All these things took place and INEC was warned beforehand. I told the REC personally about the traditional rulers and how they would sit down and ballot boxes would be set up around the palaces and that they should be stopped.

“The REC promised that the commission would stop the excesses of these monarchs but this was not to be. In one case, I called the REC to let him know what was happening and he sent his people there but they could do little or nothing because the traditional leader himself was sitting down and our agents were chased away and four ballot boxes were arranged in front of his doorstep. Outsiders could not vote.”

Shelle said he was hopeful that Ambode’s victory would be upturned at the Lagos Election Petitions Tribunal.

The PDP boss alleged that in local governments such as Badagry, Somolu and Epe as well as some in the coastal areas, the APC manipulated the election.

He said, “They manipulated election in the coastal areas where the terrain is difficult to access. They wanted to do a similar thing in Oshodi/Isolo but it was not allowed. The APC in collusion with INEC ensured that 10,000 ballot papers were missing in every local government.

“That of Somolu was detected and I informed the State Security Service and the REC. The 10,000 ballot papers were immediately brought out from the toilet. Why should a local government be used to store sensitive electoral materials?”

However, the APC Publicity Secretary in Lagos State, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, described Shelle’s allegations as baseless.

He described the PDP as a dead party which was only trying to remain relevant through cheap propaganda.

He said, “The fact is that the PDP doesn’t exist in Lagos and we need to emphasise this. At every election, different political speculators come together and after each defeat, you hear such nonsense like this.

“What made the PDP think that Lagosians that have experienced the real fruits of meaningful governance will embrace a dying cabal like it at a period the entire country was on a revolutionary song of change?


“This was a notorious cult that did everything to create a picture of presence in Lagos. They instigated the Igbo and other non-Yoruba against the Yoruba. They went on a violent march on the streets of Lagos, tearing down posters, billboards and other advert materials of the APC.

“They recruited the members of the Oodua Peoples Congress and other hoodlums to wage a war on Lagos. They went to recruit hoodlums and tagged them SURE-P officials but none of these desperate measures helped them as they were defeated in Lagos. Instead of going home to lick their wounds, they are here making wild and spurious allegations that they were rigged out.”