Monday, 28 March 2011
CHIEFTAINS of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, who are being detained on account of the alleged illegal substitution of the name of a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dave Salako, have accused the lawmaker of lying.
In a petition sent to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Hafiz Ringim, by their counsel Mr Ajibola Oluyede, the PDP leaders said they were being harrassed because of their refusal to flout the constitution of the party and the Electoral Act.
According to the three PDP chieftains, Chief Olufemi Dehinsilu, Chief Agbeja Olokun and Mr Abiodun Taiwo, chairmen of the party in Ikenne, Sagamu and Remo North local government areas respectively, Salako never paticipated in the primary held on January 6.
They challenged Salako to produce any visual evidence of his claims of participating in the primary, saying that he never believed in the leadership and, consequently, stayed away from its activities.
They said there were three contestants in the primary, namely Mr Oladi-pupo Olatunde Adebutu, Mr Fatai Sowemimo and Honourable Salako.
Salako, they said, did not present himself for the primary and was not even listed on the ballot, but had his name on the result sheet because some of the delegates voted for him, in spite of his absence.
“At the end of the primary, 730 delegates cast their votes, with Mr Ade-butu scoring 502 votes; Mr Sowemimo, 91 votes and Mr Salako, 143 votes.
“However, our clients were shocked to learn that on January 7, on the list of candiate compiled at the state headquarters of the party, Mr Adebutu’s name was replaced with that of Salako,” the petition read.
They said in a bid to save his face when he was confronted with his misconduct, Salako offered to voluntarily withdraw from the race and signed a change of candidate form with his picture affixed to it.
“Upon getting wind of his plans to renege on his voluntary decision and rope in the party leadership, his letter of withdrawal was sent for forensic examination at the laboratory of the Nigeria Police Force.
“In its report, the Forensic Sciences Department of the Police stated that one signatory (Dave Salako) signed the signature in the column of candidates withdrawing and other relevant documents related to the nomination processes.
“The forensic report therefore concluded that all signatures belonged to Dave Salako, including the one on the candidate withdrawal form,” the party chieftains said.
They wondered why Salako and his friend, Senator Lekan Mustapha, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, are using their position to harass them instead of going to law court to proof their case.