Hon. Adekunle Akinlade, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deputy governorship candidate in Ogun State, has revealed that the party has returned to the ballot box to contest the 2023 general elections in Ogun State as a result of the new electoral law.
According to Akinlade, PDP candidates in Ogun who were sacked by an Abeokuta Federal High Court on September 27 would not have been able to run in the 2023 elections if the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act had not been in place.
Akinlade stated that the new law would make rigging impossible for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023, urging Ogun residents to vote in large numbers.
The former House of Representatives member made the revelation during a ward meeting in his Agosasa Ward in the state’s Ipokia Local Government Area.
With the PDP back on the ballot in Ogun for the 2023 election, he believes the APC should be preparing its handover notes.
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Akinlade insisted that he won the Ogun 2019 governorship election, which he ran under the Allied People’s Movement, but that he was cheated out due to flaws in the old electoral law.
He expressed confidence that, with President Muhammadu Buhari’s signing of the new electoral law, “rigging is now impossible, and it is time for the PDP to oust the APC in 2023 across the nation.”
“I want to appeal to everyone to collect and keep their Permanent Voter’s Cards ready,” Akinlade, the Director-General of the Atiku/Okowa campaign in Ogun, said. The last elections were rigged at the polling stations. Without the new electoral law, the PDP would not be on the ballot in Ogun State in 2023. For our litigation, we relied on the new electoral law, which gave us victory at the appellate court after the lower court had removed us from the ballot.
“I implore you all not to fall for the APC’s gimmicks. We must vote them out of office in 2023. We must vote PDP from top to bottom in 2023 in Ogun State.”
The PDP was removed from the ballot by the high court on September 27 by nullifying all of its primary elections in Ogun.
However, on November 28, the Appeal Court in Ibadan overturned the lower court’s decision, stating that the claims of Samson Bamgbose, Segun Seriki, and other plaintiffs were not in accordance with the new electoral act.
