The Ogun State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has rejected the conduct of Saturday’s Local Government election and called for its total cancellation on the grounds that its conduct fell below any acceptable standard.
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At an emergency press conference on Saturday in Abeokuta, the state capital, the State Chairman of the party, Engr. Luqmon Jagun, accused the state electoral body, Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC), of deliberately disenfranchising the electorate, particularly its members, through systemic rigging in favor of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Jagun premised his party’s call for cancellation of the poll on the late arrival of electoral materials, non-display of voters’ registers, as well as non-accreditation of electorates, among other issues.
Describing the process as “a charade,” particularly at the Ofada Wards in Obafemi – Owode and Abeokuta South LGs, Jagun said the conduct of the LG poll was a “clear violation of the electoral guidelines of Ogun State electoral law and, in particular, Section 61, subsection ii of the Electoral Law.”
“Sadly, the Chairman of OGSIEC, Babatunde Osibodu, has failed to use the opportunity of the local government election to distinguish himself. What took place in Ogun State today falls short of the minimum standard required for the conduct of an election.
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“More worrisome is the fact that our teeming supporters, made up of youths, old men, and women, came out in their numbers to exercise their democratic rights. They waited endlessly for the arrival of OGSIEC officials and the election materials, which never came. In the few places where the materials were delivered, our supporters were chased away from the polling units, and those who stood their ground were beaten and brutalized.
“If they fail to do this, we will reject any results that are announced and put the necessary machinery in motion to challenge this charade in court,” he said.
