On Friday, the Ogun State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) issued a statement, through its Caretaker Committee led by Engr Lookman Abiodun, calling for a rerun of the March 18 governorship election. The LP rejected the governor-elect, Dapo Abiodun’s victory and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to issue a Certificate of Return to him.
The Party Chairman described the election as the culmination of a long-standing compromise of electoral integrity in the state. He claimed that this compromise is capable of creating a political monopoly and jeopardizing sustainable democracy. The LP also demanded that the governor cease addressing Abayomi Arabambi and Michael Ashade as the National Publicity Secretary and Ogun state chairman, respectively, as they remain suspended from the party. The statement asserted that Engr. Lookman Abiodun Jagun is still the party’s chairman in the state.
The LP statement also alleged that the election was marred by disruption of voting, ballot box snatching, and burning of ballot papers by armed All Progressives Congress (APC) thugs in opposition strongholds. The LP further accused the APC of manipulating the voting and collation process and obtaining a premature declaration that violates the prescribed electoral rules.
“The statement added that the Labour Party as a coalition partner with the PDP in the gubernatorial election, totally condemns the declaration of Abiodun as the winner of the election. The statement said at best, the election should have been declared as inconclusive and a rerun conducted in areas where voting was disrupted by APC thugs.”
The LP called for a rerun in areas where voting was disrupted by APC thugs, contending that this was necessary for the election results to accurately reflect the preferences of the voters.
“Similarly, the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party Kehinde Sogunle, who aligned with the candidate of the PDP, Ladi Adebutu, also asserts that despite all the anomalies that characterised the election and the padding of the results in favour of Dapo Abiodun, the APC candidate was only able to defeat the PDP candidate Ladi Adebutu with less than 14,000 votes, while the cancelled votes in the election was 33,000 votes.
“In the light of these anomalies, Kehinde Sogunle calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to heed the call of the good people of Ogun state and reverse its pronouncement of Dapo Abiodun as the winner of the election and conduct a rerun election, in accordance with the dictates of the law, in all the polling units where voters where disenfranchised.
“According to him, that is the only way that the outcome of the election will be a true reflection of the wishes of the generality of the electorates in Ogun state. Awarding Dapo Abiodun a Certificate of Return with the glaring fraud that characterised the election will amount to a rape of Democracy.
“The Labour Party is also not unmindful of the dastardly role of the Ogun state government in creating discord, acrimony and disunity within the Labour Party and its clandestine role in thwarting the nomination and listing of the candidates of the Labour Party to contest elective offices in the last election in Ogun state.
“In furtherance of its sinister objective, the Ogun state government exploited the judicial process by instituting various spurious court proceedings to frustrate and deny the candidature of some prospective candidates, and to delay the campaign activities of other political parties. The government has continued to encourage and finance suspended members of the Labour Party to parade themselves as the Executives of the party in Ogun state before the media.
“One of such instances is the shameful publication, in the media, of the picture of the governor in the midst of suspended members of the Labour Party parading themselves as the Executives of the Labour Party in Ogun state and giving the governor a phantom endorsement. One expects that a person who occupies the exalted position of the governor of a state would know that aiding and abetting impersonation is a criminal offence.
“For the umpteenth time, the Labour Party wishes to reiterate that the party has no faction in the state. There’s only one Labour party in Ogun state and the chairman of the party remains Engr Lookman Abiodun Jagun,” it noted.
