Agbaje concedes defeat but blames it on suppression of votes in areas where PDP was strong

PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State Jimi Agbaje has conceded defeat to Babajide Sanwoolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) although he protested that he lost due to vote suppression.

Last Saturday, Messrs Sanwoolu and Agbaje went head-to-head in the governorship election but what was expected to be a close race ended up being an easy ride for Mr Sanwoolu who won with a huge margin. Official figures released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), showed that Mr Sanwoolu scored 739,445 votes, compared with 206,141 for Mr Agbaje.

Inec's returning officer, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, the vice chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, said: "That Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu, of the All Progressives Congress, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”

Although, he accepted that he lost, Mr Agbaje, has attributed his defeat to the suppression of votes in areas where he was strong. He also lamented the low voter turnout in Lagos State which was less than 20%  of the total number of persons that collected permanent voters cards, adding that threats, coupled with the manner in which the presidential election was conducted, led to the voter apathy

Mr Agbaje said: “From the outset, it was clear that the numbers were on our side and naturally, that was our comparable strength but the moment you had the numbers slashed, then we were at a disadvantage. The strategy of the other side was to make sure that those numbers did not come out to vote and to that extent it has worked in their favour.

“It is not good for our democracy when only about 20% come out to vote. There was voter apathy because of the event that happened during the presidential election.”

He added that many of his supporters were intimidated and even threatened with eviction and sack if the PDP won in their areas. According to Mr Agbaje, rather than risk their lives and their livelihood, the people decided to sit at home, which gave his opponent the upper hand.

According to Mr Agbaje, voter apathy would continue as long as people believed that their votes would not count. When asked if he would be challenging the outcome of the election in court, Mr Agbaje said he would refrain from making comments for now.