Posted by From YINKA FABOWALE on
The governorship candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party in Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, on Tuesday asked people to stop accusing the late chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Lamidi_ Adedibu, of single-handedly manipulating the April 14, 2007 election.
The governorship candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party in Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, on Tuesday asked people to stop accusing the late chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Lamidi_ Adedibu, of single-handedly manipulating the April 14, 2007 election.
According to him, a combination of forces worked with Adedibu, among them former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the police and the Independent National Electoral Commission and some leaders of the PDP undermined the electoral process, which produced Adebayo Alao-Akala as governor.
His rebuke comes as the youths leader of the party in the state, Bimbo Adepoju, described as untrue the claim by another chieftain of the party, Chief Yekini Adeojo that he solely introduced the party to the state.
Ajimobi, who spoke in an interview with journalists, said it would be wrong to hold Adedibu alone responsible for a class act of anti-democratic elements.
As a catalyst, he said the late chieftain of the PDP was only assigned a specific responsibility to deliver the state to the PDP at all cost.
His words: 'People should stop mentioning Adedibu's name alone in connection with election rigging. He was not the one writing the result of elections. Its was a combination of INEC, Obasanjo, the police and some PDP leaders. It will amount to heaping too much on him. Was Adedibu the one voting in Ogbomoso? Was he the one that rigged election in Edo, Adamawa and Ogun States, to mention a few? I must say that those that rigged the election in Oyo rigged it against the society and not me. The society can see the performance of the people there now. I'm not the one losing. 'I'm not the one not having public water to fetch.
'I'm not the one not having electricity in my house. I'm not the only one being chased around by armed robbers today; the robbers are also chasing the riggers.
'The only way to prevent future rigging of election is for everybody to participate and reject rigging. If some people will sit in the comfort of their rooms expecting miracles, we have a long way to go."
The Oyo State PDP youths leader, Adepoju, insisted that Chief Adeojo stood history on its head when he made that claim. Adeojo had, in a statement signed by his aide, Mr. Kunmi Adesina, on Monday that he formed and financed the party in the state. But Adepoju in an interview said, 'the PDP was launched on November 1998 at the Lagos State Airport Hotel with prominent founding members like Chief Solomon Lar, Chief Don Etiebet, the late Chief Sunday Awoniiyi, Bamanga Tukur, Chief Richard Akinjide SAN, Chief Alex Ekwueme and others."
He said as at the time, Adeojo was promoting the United Peoples Alliance and was searching for a party to fuse with. The PDP youth leader explained that Adeojo had wanted to join the then All Peoples Party (now All Nigerian Peoples Party), which made him to send representatives to the inauguration of the party in Abuja in 1998.