Why Jonathan Lost The Presidential Poll - Shelle

Sacked PDP Chairman, Tunji Shelle

The embattled chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Captain Olatunji Shelle, has given his opinion on why President Goodluck Jonathan lost the presidential elections in the state and other parts of the country.

In an interview with our correspondent, Shelle said he had expected the president to raise objections to underage voting in certain parts of the country.

“I also expected him to raise issues when he saw a sort of romance between the INEC chairman, Jega and the APC. INEC is supposed to be independent but that doesn’t imply they cannot be cautioned if they are going astray. I think Mr. President didn’t do all these because he is a complete gentleman.

“I also believed that some authorities who are supposed to be in charge of security worked against Mr. President too. These are some of the facts that many people are not ready to reel out because they want a united country,” he said.

Speaking on how he felt when it was announced that PDP lost the presidential election, he said: “Naturally, I will feel bad as the chairman of the party in Lagos because we worked very hard. We pointed out two areas that could militate against us like the distribution of PVC’s which was skewed in favour of one region against another and card readers which didn’t function maximally during the presidential election, and yet they counted the votes.

“These are some of the irregularities that affected the chances of Mr. President and our candidates in the National Assembly election. In Lagos in particular, a lot of rigging took place and that is why we approached the tribunal for redress,” he alleged.

Jonathan lost the March 28 president election to Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress. He has been seen as a hero in some quarters for conceding defeat, thereby averting a crisis that may have erupted in the nation.

Meanwhile, since the PDP’s loss at the polls, the party has been embroiled in crises both at the state and federal level.

The Executive Committee of the PDP had sacked Shelle for misusing election campaign funds.

At the national level, leading members of the party demanded the removal of the party’s national chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, for failing to lead the party to victory. Mu’azu finally resigned last week.