Interesting read:“ We note that throughout the election, Obanikoro was actively involved in several acts of security breach in his desperate mission to enforce this selfish mandate.

“For this, he was moving around, with armed thugs, scaring people who were on their legitimate missions, and heating up the polity in Lagos and to generally foment trouble for this selfish mission. He was moving around in a tinted vehicle, bearing diplomatic numbers and was actively involved in the bid to organise demonstrations when it was obvious from returns from the polling booths that his son has woefully lost the election. We note that in extreme desperation, Obanikoro and his thugs have invaded the Ikoyi/Obalende LCDA and we see such illegal act as an exercise in futility”.

Igbokwe said PDP was just erecting lies on its false foundation in Lagos, recalling that the party once posted fake election results on the internet to confuse Lagosians.

He stressed: “Lagosians will not forget in a hurry how the PDP unleashed war on Lagos for creating additional local governments and 37 LCDAs, to the extent that local council funds in Lagos were withheld for several years with the intents of paralysing Lagos and punishing its workers.

“That the party is now laying claims to winning these LCDAs is ridiculous for Lagosians know all the facts and will happily repay PDP with their open rejection, as they have consistently shown. So, what should surprise any observer of Lagos politics is the claim by PDP that it won these councils it unleashed war on for more than 10 years.

“Lagosians know the antics of the PDP, which went as far as posting fake and fabricated results on the internet in April 2003, which claimed that it won the governorship in Lagos, when the collated results show that it lost woefully. They know that the PDP made similar claims in 2007 and 2011 general elections and is repeating same again in election into local councils it has devoted all its time fighting against.

The Publicity Secretary urged Lagosians to be calm and await the official announcement of the results by LASIEC.

Ajomale said: “We strongly condemn the PDP supporters who have decided to take the laws into their own hands by mischievously spreading falsehood that their candidate, Ibrahim Obanikoro, won the Chairmanship contest, even before the result was announced by LASIEC.

“It is on record that, hours before the close of voting at the election on Saturday, this PDP candidate himself went on Twitter and Facebook to announce that he had won the election and been elected the council chairman, despite that voting was still in progress.

[url]http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/24017-lagos-acn-to-pdp-leaders%3A-you%E2%80%99re-a-blackmailer.html[/url]

•Parties trade words over results

The Lagos State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders as blackmailers itching to secure power at the grassroots through the back door.

But PDP said the ACN deliberately rigged the elections in the disputed wards and local governments to maintain what it described as false superiority.

ACN Chairman Otunba Oladele Ajomale and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Joe Igbokwe, said in a statement in Lagos that PDP was still nursing the pains of its defeat in the Southwest  in the last general elections, adding that its desire to bounce back during the council polls was resisted by Lagosians.

He said PDP was bitter because it received feelers from its polling agents that it had again kissed the dust.

Igbokwe said: “We have noted the desperate scam arts of the members of Lagos PDP, a party that does not maintain any real presence in Lagos, in its effort to blackmail the  electoral commission to issue it with unmerited favours in last Saturday’s election.

“We want to assure Lagosians that a desperate group like Lagos PDP, fully aware of the level of rejection it commands in Lagos, cannot do anything to change the legitimate will of the people.

“We want to make Lagosians aware of the antics of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who was on a desperate and dangerous mission to force down the electoral wish of his son as the chairman of Obalende/Ikoyi Local Council Development Area.

“ We note that throughout the election, Obanikoro was actively involved in several acts of security breach in his desperate mission to enforce this selfish mandate.

“For this, he was moving around, with armed thugs, scaring people who were on their legitimate missions, and heating up the polity in Lagos and to generally foment trouble for this selfish mission. He was moving around in a tinted vehicle, bearing diplomatic numbers and was actively involved in the bid to organise demonstrations when it was obvious from returns from the polling booths that his son has woefully lost the election. We note that in extreme desperation, Obanikoro and his thugs have invaded the Ikoyi/Obalende LCDA and we see such illegal act as an exercise in futility”.

Igbokwe said PDP was just erecting lies on its false foundation in Lagos, recalling that the party once posted fake election results on the internet to confuse Lagosians.

He stressed: “Lagosians will not forget in a hurry how the PDP unleashed war on Lagos for creating additional local governments and 37 LCDAs, to the extent that local council funds in Lagos were withheld for several years with the intents of paralysing Lagos and punishing its workers.

“That the party is now laying claims to winning these LCDAs is ridiculous for Lagosians know all the facts and will happily repay PDP with their open rejection, as they have consistently shown. So, what should surprise any observer of Lagos politics is the claim by PDP that it won these councils it unleashed war on for more than 10 years.

“Lagosians know the antics of the PDP, which went as far as posting fake and fabricated results on the internet in April 2003, which claimed that it won the governorship in Lagos, when the collated results show that it lost woefully. They know that the PDP made similar claims in 2007 and 2011 general elections and is repeating same again in election into local councils it has devoted all its time fighting against.

The Publicity Secretary urged Lagosians to be calm and await the official announcement of the results by LASIEC.

Ajomale said: “We strongly condemn the PDP supporters who have decided to take the laws into their own hands by mischievously spreading falsehood that their candidate, Ibrahim Obanikoro, won the Chairmanship contest, even before the result was announced by LASIEC.

“It is on record that, hours before the close of voting at the election on Saturday, this PDP candidate himself went on Twitter and Facebook to announce that he had won the election and been elected the  council chairman, despite that voting was still in progress.

“These unruly PDP supporters invaded the secretariat of the council and drove away its employees. They also descended on the Ikoyi/Obalende office of  Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), as the Commission was collating the results of the election, forcing the LASIEC officials to relocate to a safer place from where they announced the result of the election, which was won by our party, the Action Congress of Nigeria.

“We are astonished at the brazen act of lawlessness exhibited by the rampaging PDP supporters, and strongly condemn them as barbarians who have chosen to take the law into their own hands.

“It is an irony that those who chose to engage in sheer thuggery over the outcome of a largely peaceful election are from the PDP, the same party that has accused the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) of being behind the post-election riots witnessed in the North after the Presidential elections of April 2011.

“Had the ACN not restrained its supporters, they could have confronted these barbarians, thus triggering off a clash that could have led to a breakdown of law and order similar to what the PDP had accused the CPC of masterminding earlier.

“The ACN had, before, contested and lost elections in states under the control of the PDP, but not once did our supporters resort to self help.

“The law is clear that whoever feels aggrieved at the outcome of an election should seek restitution in court, just as our party has done times without number, because we believe in the rule of law”.

“We therefore, call on the police to swiftly act to restore law and order at the Ikoyi/Obalende Council Secretariat without delay, by dislodging the thugs who may still be occupying the secretariat or milling around the premises”

However, PDP Chairman, Hon. Setonji Koshoedo, told reporters in Lagos that the delay in releasing the results of the elections was suspicious, maintaining that ACN planned to upturn the victory of his party in the disputed councils and wards.