EX-ENVOY WARNS AGAINST EXCLUSION FROM ONDO PDP PRIMARIES

By NBF News

NIGERIA's Ambassador to Australia and an aspirant to the Ondo Central Senatorial seat on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sunday Olu Agbi, has threatened court action against the party if the alleged plot to disqualify him from the primaries, scheduled to hold tomorrow, is carried out.

Sources within the party claimed that Agbi had been disqualified because he did not resigned his diplomatic position in accordance with the regulations of the party, which stipulate that holders of political offices must quit before the primaries.

But Agbi claimed that the threat of disqualification came from elements within the PDP that were uncomfortable with his popularity, saying the decision to bar him from the contest was based on 'a spurious petition that was caused to be written by my rival in the primaries.'

According to him, 'the petition was written by someone in the same Ondo ward with a co-contestant and it accused me of still occupying the ambassadorial position even when I had tendered my resignation letter September 5, 2010 and same was submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.'

Agbi, whose only rival in the race is Gbenga Ogunniya, who is seeking a fourth term in the Senate, showed The Guardian, a certificate of clearance, dated December 31, 2010, which was given to him by the Screening Committee set up by the PDP, saying 'the committee had cleared me and issued a certificate to that effect before the issue of the petition came up.'