Implications of alleged smuggling in Oluranti Adebule into Lagos West Senatorial contest despite not obtaining nomination forms
A former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule is said to have joined the race to represent Lagos West Senatorial District in the Senate in the forthcoming general elections.
As earlier published via this medium, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a presidential hopeful ,had , allegedly, made several moves through the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to obtain a nomination form, after the closure of sales of form and screening of aspirants, for Idiat Adebule.
Our investigations at the National Secretariat of the APC however revealed that only three aspirants namely: Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Mr. Kayode Opeifa and Mrs. Joke Orelope-Adefulire obtained nomination forms from Lagos West.
Whereas both Obanikoro and Opeifa submitted their forms and were thereafter cleared by the screening committee, Orelope-Adefulire neither submitted the form nor presented herself for the race.
There was never a time before and during the processes of submission of forms or screening that the name Adebule came up, having not obtained the expression of interest and nomination forms in the first place.
It is therefore obvious that the aspiration of Idiat Adebule will suffer a huge loss, especially if the party goes ahead to present her as its candidate after its primaries, once it is tested in a competent court of jurisdiction. Indeed, it is fatal to the party.
Adebule is challenged to publish the teller or e-receipt of the transfer of the expression of interest and nomination forms fee she paid to the party as well as the receipts issued her by the national secretariat as done for other aspirants.
There is no gainsaying the fact therefore, that Dr. Adebule’s form may have been obtained illegally and anything built on illegality is bound to fail.
How then can a non – aspirant become a candidate? , Remarked a Lagos APC member who does not want his name in the news.
What is more worrisome for members of the party in the Senatorial District and by extension Lagos State is that, it appears their party has not learned from past experiences where it lost to the opposition party, even in some cases, having won in the general election.
The case of Zamfara State comes to mind, in this instant – indeed, this is even worse-off. The party, at the national, State and local government levels does not need to be enmeshed in any illegality in the course of its primaries, considering the anticipated challenges it will face in the general election, since its popularity among the Nigerian electorate has further dwindled in recent times.
The anonymous Lagos APC member concluded by saying “Tinubu and Adebule may have their ways on this, but the national secretariat should be wise enough to stamp its feet on the ground and do things in accordance with its own constitution, failure of which will lead to another seat already lost for it in the red chambers even before the conduct of the election. This is glaring illegality which must be condemned in its entirety.”
