President Jonathan and his wife show off their membership cards at PDP ward congress in Otuoke, Bayelsa state
Controversies trailed the ward congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in many states of the federation on Saturday.
The controversies emanated because different factions of PDP openly disputed the outcome of their congresses as announced by the various electoral officers assigned to conduct the exercise in some states.
However, the exercise was peaceful in many states.
In Oyo State, the three leading governorship aspirants laid claim to victory.
The leading aspirants, former Gov. Adebayo Alao-Akala, Sen. Teslim Folarin and Mr Seyi Makinde all claimed to have won the congress.
It was gathered that the distribution of materials was disrupted at the PDP secretariat after materials had been distributed to 21 out of the 33 councils in the state.
However, the congress was peacefully conducted in Saki, Ibarapa, Ogbomoso and Oyo areas of the state.
The leading aspirants had accused each other of disrupting the distribution of materials at the party’s secretariat.
Dr Kola Balogun, a close associate of Alao-Akala, said that there was no basis for his boss to have disrupted the distribution of materials when he was already winning.
Also, Alhaji Akeem Azeez, the Media Aide to Makinde, said that the disruption was unknown to them, adding that his principal was winning from reports gathered.
He said that supporters of Folarin were absent at the various voting centres, adding that they had video clips of the congress.
However, Mr Sunday Babalola, the Coordinator of the Folarin Campaign group said that his principal won the congress, alleging that the distribution of materials was disrupted by the Alao-Akala group.
The State Chairman, Alhaji Yinka Taiwo and Mr Kehinde Salawu, the Public Relations Officer did not respond to phone calls to clarify the controversy.