Lagos: Banky W Clinches PDP House Of Reps Ticket

The Nigerian musician-turned-politician, Olubankole Wellington, staged name as Banky W., has clinched the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket to contest for Eti-Osa federal constituency seat at the house of representatives in 2023.

CityMirrorNews gathered that the musician polled 28 out of 31 votes cast by delegates at the primaries held on Monday to defeat Sam Aiboni, a legal practitioner who had three votes.

It is understood that the delegates consisted 31 adhoc members of the PDP and one national delegate.

Ayodele Kazeem, the returning officer, who declared the results, described the process as peaceful and transparent.

Reacting, Banky W expressed gratitude to the PDP for the opportunity to represent the party. He said he was very thankful to the people as well.

“I am overwhelmed by the support of my constituency, the people, the ward chairmen, the leaders and the chieftains of the party,” he said.

“I feel the support even from the grassroot, honestly, I can’t be more happy than I am now.

“The real work begins now, the primaries is just the start and thankfully, we have the grace of God with us; we move.”

In a now-viral video, his fans were seen jubilating after votes were counted.

This is the second time the 41-year-old would be contesting for the same position.

In 2019, the singer vied under the Modern Democratic Party (MDP) but lost to Babajide Obanikoro of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the polls.

His victory comes amid the controversies trailing the PDP’s house of assembly and house of representatives primaries in Lagos.

The state chapter of the party had earlier called on the PDP’s national working committee (NWC) to cancel the exercise, citing alleged irregularities in ad-hoc delegates’ list.

Philips Aivoji, Lagos PDP chairman, alleged that the ad-hoc delegates’ list brought by the electoral committees for both primaries had been compromised.

“The entire executive committee of Lagos State PDP and five of the six gubernatorial aspirants reject in its entirety, the ad-hoc delegates’ list brought by the electoral committee to Lagos State for the purpose of conducting the primaries,” he had said.

“We are all shocked to see that the list does not reflect the authentic elected ad-hoc delegates as conducted by organs of the party at ward level and supervised by the DSS and INEC.”