The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, has dismissed claims of widespread irregularities, violence and voter intimidation levelled by major opposition members in the recent governorship election held in the state.
This comes after criticism by several local and international election observers, including those of the US Mission, which gave firsthand accounts of attacks and ethnic profiling.
However, Hamzat downplayed the allegations of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran (aka Jandor); and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
“I’ve listened to all sorts of commentary about this election and I think it’s very unkind from Nigerians,” the deputy governor said during a live appearance Tuesday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“Unfortunately, people tend to be bad losers. So, instead of re-examining what exactly happened: ‘How do I get better?’ The PDP candidate was saying, ‘We contested against INEC.’ No. The reality was, you lost all your party members.”
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Hamzat went on to name some Lagos PDP defectors whose departures had a negative effect on the party’s governorship campaign.
“Ade Dosunmu left your party, Wahab Owokoniran left your party. [Funsho] Doherty left your party – who is the chairman of the PCC for Atiku/Okowa and Jandor in Lagos?” he said.
“His own director, the campaign director for the PDP candidate resigned and left. So, you lost everybody around you. The question is, how did you manage your party? You didn’t do well.”
The deputy governor added that the same thing was the case for the Labour Party.
“Sunbo Onitiri who contested for the Senate for Central left the party. The Chairman of the party before, [Kayode] Salako, left the party and said that the man is all sorts of things,” he said.
Hamzat argued that both opposition candidates were not looking at the real issue which he said is their ability to manage organisations.
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