Jimi Agbaje has revealed he lost the Lagos Governorship election to the
All Progressives Congress, APC candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. In an
interview with PUNCH shortly after the result of the governorship
election was announced, Jimi Agbaje who lamented the low voter turnout
in Lagos State, said it was less than 20 per cent of the total number of
persons that collected Permanent Voter Cards.
He further said
that threats, coupled with the manner in which the presidential
election was conducted, led to the voter apathy witnessed in the
nation’s commercial nerve centre.
Jimi Agbaje also disclosed
that he lost the Lagos Governorship election as many of his supporters
were intimidated, and even threatened with eviction and sack if the PDP
won in their areas. He added that rather than risk their lives and their
livelihood, the people decided to sit at home which gave his opponent
the upper hand.
“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 per
cent come out to vote. There was voter apathy because of the event that
happened during the presidential election.”