Agbaje Congratulates Ambode

THE governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in
Lagos State, Mr Jimi Agbaje on Sunday reportedly called to
congratulate the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship
candidate, Mr Akinwumi Ambode for emerging winner of the April 11
polls.

Agbaje was said to have called Mr Ambode at exactly 6:50pm yesterday,

The APC governorship candidate defeated Mr Agbaje in a keenly
contested governorship election.

Mr Agbaje, who wished the governor-elect well, said he looked forward
to seeing a better Lagos under Ambode.

"I just made a phone call to congratulate Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the
governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress," Agbaje said.

Lagos PDP petitions INEC
Meanwhile, the Lagos State chapter of the PDP yesterday petitioned the
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over alleged non
usage of the Smart Card Readers during the April 11 governorship
elections in the state.

In a protest letter signed by the State Legal Adviser, Mr Adeleke
Adefala, the party called on the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC,
in Lagos to suspension of the collation and release of the results
pending investigation into the complaints.

The party in a petition entitled: "RE: Fraudulent Use and Non Usage Of
The Card Reader During The 11THApril governorship and State Assembly
Elections",alleged irregularities in some local government areas.

The party stated that "our candidates have brought to our attention
that contrary to electoral rules and guidelines, the newly introduced
card readers were not used in the following local Governments: Epe,
Babagry, Mushin, Ikorodu, EtiOsa, Alimosho, Ikeja, IbejuLekki, Lagos
Island and some parts of other local governments."

While the party argued that there were no proper accreditation of
voters, it described as a "denouncement of the sanctity of the voting
process."

In addition, the Lagos PDP alleged that "there were numerous
complaints of front and uploading of the card readers with fictitious
names before commencement of accreditation in areas where card readers
were used i.e Lagos Island, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Lagos Mainland and
Badagry."

Calling for the suspension of the collation and release of the results
pending investigation into the complaints, the party said "a simple
step is for INEC to present for inspection the data from the card
readers allocated to the above mentioned Local Government areas since
the INEC premises is WiFi enabled, the card reader can be accessed for
instant verification. In the interest of justice, fair play and
electoral transparency and the confidence reposed by the Nigerian
voters in INEC as a veritable institution of democratic tenets."

"We demand that this investigation be conducted immediately. The first
step is the immediate suspension of the collation and release of the
results,"the party stated.
--Vanguard