The crisis in the Lagos State
chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over fallout of the last general
elections got messy on Wednesday with one of the major gladiators revealing
sordid details of how campaign funds from Abuja were allegedly cornered by the
governorship candidate of the party, Mr Jimi Agbaje.
Reacting to allegations of
sabotage leveled against him by Agbaje during a postmortem meeting on outcome
of the elections, Director General of Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign
Council in Lagos State, Chief Layi Ogunbambi said it was unfortunate that the
PDP gubernatorial candidate in the state could degenerate to such lowest ebb of
fabricating vicious lies just to cover up his inadequacies and greed.
Ogunbambi said right from when he
was appointed as DG of Atiku campaign council, Agbaje refused to work with him,
despite spirited efforts to diplomatically make him (Agbaje) change his mind
and see the reason for all of them to work together.
“Let me quickly seize this
opportunity to thank our leader, Chief Bode George, immensely for the
confidence reposed in me all the time since l became a member of Lagos State
PDP. l was duly sworn in as DG of Atiku campaign council at the Party
Secretariat in lkeja and curiously Jimi Agbaje never called me to discuss with
me the operations and work schedule of my office.
“There was no template for
harmonization of his group with the legitimate organ and structure at the party
office in lkeja. With his rigid application of dogma, it was patently obvious
that he was not going to work with me and the party on 2019 general elections.
“ln fact, he made it clear to
many and even went on social media to put on record that he was not going to
have anything to do with me as the DG. l spoke with him several times on the
phone in my attempt to diplomatically bring some focus and sanity to his ego without
any success,” Ogunbambi alleged.
The DG said the calls were made
in the presence of many party bigwigs, while he went further to talk to
Agbaje’s close friend in an attempt to make him see the need for unity in the
larger interest of the party, all to no avail.
“The Chairman of the Party,
the former Chairman of the Party, Rtd
Navy Captain Shelle and Taofeek Gani were all there at each occasion these
calls were made to Jimi. l also engaged his friend (Osibodu) for several hours
on the phone to get him to get Jimi to see reason in the larger interest of the
party, but that, in Osibodu’s own innocent naivety, was more interested in the
so-called integrity mantra of Jimi than the larger issue of party cohesion,
integration and harmony, hence, and again, all the discussions with Osibodu
never amounted to anything significant in the directional way foreword for the party.
“The stagnation remained
substantially the same to date. Jimi was emphatic when he said publicly that
Leke was his DG because he needed somebody he could control just like he wanted
to control the entire party with his inner core group that have done more to
disfranchise the Party in Lagos State for years now,” Ogunbambi said.
While questioning the basis for
Agbaje’s allegations that he wanted to sabotage his political efforts,
Ogunbambi said the PDP gubernatorial candidate had again exposed his character
to the glare of public scrutiny, alleging that all his (Agbaje’s) interest was
the campaign funds from Abuja.
“Listening again to his
(Agbaje’s) own version of the money brought from Abuja and the version of the
Chairman of the Party, l ask you all: who was telling the truth yesterday? You
can lie and deceive the people some of the time but you cannot deceive them all
of the time.
“Jimi is a cancer in Lagos PDP. A
proclamation of no confidence and integrity in him is the most viable option
left to the Party and l urge you all to consider it with the seriousness that
it deserves!
“My issue with Jimi is not about
Ceaser and Brutus. lt is about a man l supported with my time and money in 2015
and 2019, and later discovered that he was nothing but a serial politician
coming every four years to use our Lagos PDP platform to amass enormous wealth
for himself.
The DG also alleged that most of
the businessmen who initially bought into the vision of Agbaje and supporting
his campaign had since left him having discovered the truth about his
character.
However, efforts by PM News to
speak with Agbaje proved abortive as calls made to his phone were not picked.
Also, calls made to the phone of
his Campaign Director General, Felix Oboagwina were also not picked, likewise
calls made to the phone of the Lagos PDP Publicity Secretary, Taofik Gani were
not picked.
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This is what PDP is known for. Not a surprise......money, money, money sharing
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